Goodbye Stranger
by word-gman
Summary: I always hated that the relationship between Lindsay and Daniel was never properly explored, especially seeing as both the producers and James Franco himself have since confirmed that it was meant to happen in Season 2. This story will explore that relationship, and is loosely based around a script that was going to be included before the show was cancelled. Hope you all enjoy x
1. Chapter 1

Lindsay sighed as she picked up yet another box of tennis rackets, carrying them over to her father. It was 8pm on a Thursday night, and A1 Sporting Goods was not exactly where she wanted to be, but it had been this way since her parents found out the truth about the academic summit. Amongst all the exhilaration that came following a band around the country, Lindsay had partially lost her sense of good judgement. She should have picked up on the strange noises the vans engine had been making during the last few days on tour. She probably should have also pieced together that usually when vehicles make strange noises, it probably means they don't have much life left in them. Which was exactly what happened, of course. As though the van knew that Lindsay had to meet her parents at exactly 4pm at Ann Arbour station on that fateful day, it decided to die halfway down the 101 freeway. That, and the summit had called her parents when she hadn't shown up.

In some ways, Lindsay didn't mind getting caught. For one, she was a horrible liar. She was essentially convinced from the start that her parents would find out at some point, and at least this way she didn't have to hold onto that guilt forever. Plus, following the Dead around the country was the best thing she ever did, and she didn't regret it in any way. Maybe at first, when her parents confined her to the house for two weeks, there was a little bit of doubt as to whether she had made the right choice. She didn't see any of her friends for weeks, with the exception of Daniel, who had seemingly taken a fancy to playing Dungeons and Dragons with her little brother. But even then, she had barely managed to say two words to him before her dad sent her back into solitary bedroom confinement.

Of course, Lindsay knew she had let her parents down. The Weir household had never been so tense. There was one afternoon where the fridge had stopped working, and somehow a conversation about how expensive fridges were nowadays turned into one about how Lindsay was throwing her life away. Naturally, she needed to convince her family that she wasn't the complete screw up she was being painted to be.

So, she re-joined the Mathletes on her first day back at McKinley. She had signed up for the yearbook committee, and was tutoring three first years in English, Maths and History. And in between spending her entire rest of summer working at A1 with her dad, she was in her room studying for the year ahead. Lindsay wanted everyone to know that despite her choices that summer, her motivation to succeed had only increased. Watching The Dead play and seeing how in love they were with their music had pushed Lindsay to find out what it was she wanted to do with her future. And in that moment, she was pretty sure she didn't want to be stacking boxes with her dad for the rest of her life.

"Thanks Lindsay." Harold Weir placed the box on the counter behind him, then turned to her. "I want to talk to you about something. Sit down."

Lindsay gulped, heading over cautiously. She was pretty certain that whatever this was about, it couldn't be good. She wondered if it had something to do with Kim's unexpected visit to the store earlier that afternoon. She'd come barging in like she owned the place, her eyes frantic as she searched the store for Lindsay. When she spotted her, she started to yell that they needed to talk, as soon as possible. But that moment never came, seeing as Harold had essentially chased her out of the store with a broom. Lindsay had mouthed that they could talk at school the next day, which Kim seemed less than happy with.

Shaking away the memory, Lindsay jumped onto the bench next to the register, her dad folding his arms opposite her.

"Lindsay, I want you to know that what you did, it really upset your mother and I." Harold began, and Lindsay felt her heart dropping, just as it had so many times the past few weeks. The constant tears, arguments, speeches about how her Grandma would have been so disappointed in her, had taken a toll on her. It wasn't a nice feeling to know how badly she'd let everybody down, and sometimes it was hard to ignore. Especially right now. "You scared us Lindsay. When we got that call, saying you hadn't shown up to the summit – well, you know how terrified we were. We were just waiting for the police to show up at our door, telling us that you'd been found on the side of the road, killed by some hitchhiker! I don't need to go into it more than that Lindsay, you know exactly how we felt. But I suppose, the one thing we haven't said to you is that we also know that you aren't a failure. And we know how hard you've been trying to show us that. Now, I don't think any young person should be spending every single day at a sporting goods store. You should have time to socialize. So, I suppose your grounding is over."

For a moment, Lindsay was speechless. She had been ready to accept that her final year in high school was probably going to be the worst year of her life, she probably deserved it. She had just figured that this was her life now; school, work and study.

"Dad, I know I made a mistake-"

"That's the thing Lindsay." Harold interrupted, his expression firm yet understanding. "I don't think you did make a mistake. I think you did what was right for you. Don't tell your mother I said that."

All Lindsay could do was blink back tears, unable to register what was happening. This was the first time her father had been able to see her perspective, and it felt better than she could have imagined. She immediately jumped up and wrapped her arms around him, unable to hide the tears any longer. Because he was right. Lindsay had made the right choice, the one that she needed to make for herself. They stood there for a moment, remaining in the embrace for as long as the other needed. It was the first time he had hugged her back in weeks, and Lindsay never wanted to let go.

"Alright, alright." Harold wiped away a tear himself, holding Lindsay at arm's length. "Get out of here before I change my mind."

"Love you, dad. And I really am sorry. For everything."

Harold nodded, letting her go. "I know you are. So long as you know that if you ever try anything like that again, we won't be so lenient."

Making a mental note to spend the rest of her year relatively straight edged, Lindsay gave her father one last smile as she grabbed her jacket and headed out the back door. She decided to take the short cut through the back streets home, seeing as it was a nice enough night. If she was lucky, she might even be allowed to go out later on. It had been so long since the whole gang had hung out together, probably since the start of summer in fact. Apart from the odd study date with Millie, Lindsay really hadn't seen any of her friends. Kim's name wasn't being spoken of in the Weir household, let alone her presence. Ken was so besotted with Amy, the two of them had subconsciously isolated themselves from civilization. And in the two weeks that Lindsay had been back at school, she had only seen Daniel attend three classes. She was worried about him, but never had the chance to ask him if he was ok, let alone how his holidays were. Nick had attempted to come around a couple of times, with Lindsay secretly glad her parents had told him to leave. She had been told by Kim that Nick had broken up with Sara, which kind of changed everything. It meant that Lindsay no longer had to feel guilty about the nights she spent thinking about him that summer.

She was so caught up in her own thoughts, she didn't notice herself wandering down the wrong path home. She stopped in her tracks and realized she was in an alley not far from her house, an eerie feeling creeping over her as she saw a couple of men in the distance. They were walking towards her, and suddenly Lindsay felt stupid for not paying attention to her surroundings. She was about to turn and walk the other direction when the men stopped, and leant against the fence in the alley. One of them lit a cigarette, the other tapping his foot impatiently. Lindsay knew she should leave, but something was keeping her rooted to the spot. Maybe it was fear, maybe it was the fact that she didn't know where she was anyway. But Lindsay knew she had stopped because another man was approaching the duo from the street opposite, a dark hooded jacket covering his face. When he reached the two men, he reached into his pocket, quick as anything, and handed over some kind of bag. They handed him back an envelope, and then they parted ways. That was it, and it happened so fast that Lindsay was certain she must have been seeing things.

Because for a moment, she could have sworn it was Daniel Desario under the hood of the jacket.

Lindsay froze as the hooded figure began to walk away. She didn't know what was scarier; a potentially dangerous criminal cornering her in an alley, or finding out Daniel was involved in something he shouldn't be. Either way, she didn't want to stick around to find out. Praying that she hadn't been seen, Lindsay turned and sprinted out of the alley, not stopping until she had reached a familiar street near her house to catch her breath.

She slept restlessly that night, finally giving in to her insomnia at 3am, when she realized that maybe there was a really bad reason Daniel had not been attending his classes.


	2. Chapter 2

With the revelation that she was no longer grounded, Lindsay ashamedly put the night before to the back of her mind, instead concentrating on the fact that she might actually be allowed to go out that weekend. She had this crazy idea that maybe she could hang out with Nick, just the two of them. It had been a while since she'd thought about that possibility. When she was in Memphis at one of The Grateful Dead concerts, she had kissed a boy who had come back to the van with her. His name was William and he had six Grateful Dead tattoos all over his body. For a moment, she thought maybe they would do more than kiss, but then Kim had come back to the van with her latest beau. Lindsay had immediately sacrificed her spot, secretly glad she didn't have to go any further with William, especially when she couldn't stop thinking about somebody else back home.

Lindsay watched Nick now, as he stared into space, fiddling with the knife and fork in his hands at the lunch table. The last time they had spoken about anything meaningful was the night of Nick's disco competition. He had stopped smoking pot for Sara, which still hurt Lindsay a little bit. He had never been willing to do that for her. She still remembers how difficult it was to walk away from him in that moment, to not go back over to him and tell him that she wished things had turned out differently. But she had walked away from him. And since then, they had shared laughs, some lingering stares and conversations about her time away, nothing more really. It was especially difficult to ignore him now, with Ken and Amy sitting next to them, completely closed off to anything that wasn't each other.

"So, what are you gonna do now that you're not grounded?" Nick asked, snapping Lindsay out of her trance. "There's a sale on at Dearborn Music, the first twenty customers get a free copy of the new Rush album. You could come with me if you want, I guess."

"That'd be great Nick." Lindsay was surprised at how happy it made her to be invited, even happier watching Nick smile down at the table. "Cool." He replied, in an attempt to hide his satisfaction.

"Hey, why don't we all go?" Lindsay jumped in suddenly, her cheeks flushed as she instinctively shut down the idea of going alone with Nick. She tried to ignore the dejection on his face. "It's been ages since we've all hung out."

"What are we doing right now?" Ken offered, finally breaking his attention from Amy. "Do I mean nothing to you Lindsay?"

"I just mean with Kim and Daniel too." Lindsay rolled her eyes, realizing it was the first time she'd said their names out loud at the same time, for a very long time. Over the summer, Kim had made it very clear she was finished with Daniel. She had her fair share of male attention throughout the tour, but had eventually shacked up with some guy called Dave towards the end, with Kim insisting it had nothing to do with trying to get over her ex.

"Daniel has no idea what he's doing with his life." She had said, hanging off Dave's arm at the time. "He's never gonna make it out of town, Linds. And I wanna be somebody, you know? I don't want him to hold me back anymore."

At the time, Lindsay didn't believe her. Those two were constantly breaking up then getting back together, as though nothing had happened. But it had been weeks since they'd spoken. On the rare occasion Daniel had made it to class, the two of them had barely made eye contact, let alone gotten back together. She thought Kim was being unfair on Daniel. Deep down, Lindsay was certain he wanted to succeed. But after seeing what she saw last night, she wasn't so sure.

"Well, Daniel probably won't come." Nick shrugged. "He's got some new job working with his brother, now that he's dropping out."

"Daniel's dropping out!? Since when?"

Lindsay didn't mean to yell, but somehow it came out that way. She felt as though somebody had just dropped a pile of bricks on top of her, then laughed. She watched as Ken and Amy exchanged murderous glances towards Nick, who hung his head and went quiet. Lindsay felt her heart beat increase.

"Wait a minute, am I the only one who didn't know about this?" She managed to get out, feeling her head start to spin. Suddenly, things were becoming all too real. Not only had she spent the whole of summer alone, it seemed as though she was no longer trusted by her friends.

"Look, he wanted to tell you." Amy started, seeing as Ken and Nick had suddenly forgotten how to talk. "He only decided a few days ago. He thought that if you knew, you might try and – well, you know."

"I might try and what?" Lindsay exclaimed. "I might try and stop him? Because that's exactly what you all should have done. He only has one year left till graduation."

"Lindsay, it's not like we didn't try." Ken said, being serious for a change. "Maybe high school isn't for everybody, I don't know."

Lindsay felt hurt. She had hoped her relationship with Daniel was strong enough that he would trust her with this. That maybe, he would try and talk to her to get some advice. Mostly, she was hurting at the thought that this probably meant she wasn't going to see him anymore. It was an odd feeling, as though somebody had told her Christmas had been cancelled this year. It was disappointing, sad and made no sense.

Lindsay suddenly became aware of the deafening silence at the table, and tried to hide her emotions.

"Well, where's he working?" She asked, remaining as indifferent as she could. It was difficult, given the circumstances.

"We don't know." Nick responded quickly. "Every time we ask, he doesn't want to talk about it."

"This is insane." Lindsay decided, utterly confused. "You guys are just letting him drop out of school, work some random job that none of you know what it is, and throw his entire life away?"

"See, this is why he didn't want to tell you." Ken said, with Amy slapping him on the shoulder. "It's his life Lindsay. You can't make his choices for him."

"Well at least I want what's best for him!" Lindsay yelled back, grabbing her bag as she stood up from the table. "You guys might be happy to let him do this, but I'm not!"

"God Lindsay, why are you yelling like a crazy person?" She sighed as Kim strolled over, sitting where Lindsay was previously occupying. The others were remaining quiet, suddenly very interested in the food in front of them.

"We just told her about Daniel." Nick mumbled, and watching Kim's face, Lindsay was livid.

"Please don't tell me you knew about this." She shook her head at Kim, who rolled her eyes.

"Lindsay, we all knew Daniel was never going to make it through high school. At least he's finally admitted that to himself." Kim said casually, not an ounce of remorse on her face as she took a swig from her coke. Suddenly, Lindsay couldn't believe this was the same girl who she had spent the whole of summer with, drinking under the stars and holding hands as they danced to The Grateful Dead. That girl had a heart, she had ambition and she had empathy. This girl was willing to give up on the person that probably still meant more to her than anyone. Lindsay loved Kim, but she didn't love this side of her.

As though Kim could read her mind, she got up and grabbed another chair for Lindsay.

"Come on, Linds. Sit down."

Lindsay didn't want to sit down. She wanted to ask them all what the hell their problem was, why they didn't think their friend was worth fighting for. If her parents had taught her anything that summer, it was that everybody deserved a second chance to prove themselves. Why didn't Daniel?

Instead, she reluctantly sat back down, with everyone awkwardly eating their lunches trying to avoid eye contact. If this was the beginning of the freaks without Daniel, it sure wasn't looking great. Kim put a hand to Lindsay's shoulder, a knowing smile plastered on her face.

"Daniel knows how to take care of himself. He's going to be fine, Linds."

Lindsay smiled weakly, playing with the food in front of her. She couldn't stop thinking about the hooded figure in the alley from the night before, how dodgy the whole scenario seemed. Whatever was going on, Daniel seemed to be anything but fine.


	3. Chapter 3

Aware that she was probably making a big mistake, Lindsay found herself standing outside Daniel's house after school that day. She hitched her backpack higher on her shoulder, seemingly unable to walk the ten steps down the driveway to his front door. Part of her was being logical, telling her to turn around and go home, because this was none of her business. But the stronger side, her emotional side, was never one to be ignored. Taking a deep breath, she wandered past his car and towards the front door, each step on the gravel painfully loud. She had no idea why she was so nervous, but rang the doorbell before she could answer that question.

The first thing she heard was yelling, and none of it seemed to be from Daniel. There was a woman screaming for somebody to get the door because she was busy, then a man yelled back louder that she was a lazy old bag who needed to get a life. For a moment, Lindsay prayed she had the wrong house. And then less than a second later a man appeared at the door, who had to be Daniels brother, Joey.

He was taller than Daniel, which meant he towered over Lindsay. He was paler, thinner and somehow looked a little bit meaner, though that might have just been Lindsay's anxiety coming through. He was staring down at her with a lopsided grin, leaning against the door frame like a territorial animal.

"Uh…hi." Lindsay started, hating how her voice shaking. "I was wondering if Daniel was around."

"Yeah, he's probably around somewhere." He sneered, stepping onto the porch and closing the front door behind him. Lindsay was suddenly aware of the lack of space between them. She was close enough to smell the sweat coming off his body, the faded track marks running down his arm. She slowly registered that she had no idea about Daniel's family, and that they might not be the best people to be around. "Sure I can help you out though. What's your name?"

"I, uh – it's Lindsay. Look, I just really need to talk to him-"

"You're just here to talk to him?" Lindsay's heart rate increased with fear as he closed whatever space was between them, running his hand down her shoulder. She recoiled at his touch, her breaths staggered. "If you were here to see me, we wouldn't be talking."

"Hey, back off!"

Lindsay heard him from behind her, his face livid as he came down the driveway. It was the first time she had seen Daniel so angry, and it terrified her. And in the meantime, the yelling coming from inside the house was getting louder, and suddenly Lindsay felt stupid that she had gotten involved in his life at all. Joey laughed and held up his hands as though he had done nothing wrong, opening the front door again.

"Nice to meet you Lindsay. Hope I'll be seeing you."

Daniel barely looked at her as he reached the porch, staring his brother down with an intensity that scared her.

"Get in the car." Daniel murmured softly. It took Lindsay a while to realize he was talking to her, as he placed his keys in the palm of her hand. "I'll just be a minute."

Lindsay didn't hang around to find out why everyone in the Desario household was yelling, or why Daniel looked as though he wanted to murder his brother in that moment. She half sprinted to his car, not looking back as she climbed into the passenger seat and did up the seat belt. She wasn't sure why, probably because she had a feeling they would be making a quick getaway. She watched as Daniel and Joey went inside the house, tried to ignore the fact that the screaming was getting obviously louder, and was now accompanied by a series of banging noises. Then quick as anything, Daniel came storming out of the house, threw himself into the driver's side of the car and turned on the engine without saying a word. And then they were driving, and Lindsay had no idea where they were going but she knew that it didn't really matter, that she just had to let him go.

They came to a stop after about fifteen minutes. Lindsay vaguely recognized where they were; the gang had come here once after trying (and failing) to get into a bar downtown. They were parked behind a convenience store, the street relatively empty. Lindsay hadn't said a word the entire drive, and neither had he. They sat there for a little bit longer, the previously comfortable silence becoming strained as Lindsay wracked her brains for an explanation as to why she had come to see him in the first place. Luckily, he spoke first.

"I know you saw me last night."

He wasn't looking at her. He was running a hand through his hair, and Lindsay could sense his vulnerability, a rare trait to find within Daniel. What really stung about the entire situation, is that she was right. The hooded man was Daniel, which meant exactly what she had been fearing. She turned away from him.

"Yeah. Yeah I did."

"Did you tell anyone?" He replied quickly. Lindsay shook her head, and the relief was evident on Daniel's face. "Look, it's not a big deal ok? I just need some money, fast. As soon as I have enough I can stop."

Lindsay felt her heart sinking. The horrible dream was becoming real.

"Look, if you need money I can loan you some-" She started to say, but Daniel was already laughing, completely void of any humour.

"I don't need your pity Lindsay."

"It's not pity money, Daniel. And fine, if you won't take it then why don't you come work for my dad at the store? He always needs people to do shifts after school-"

"Lindsay, stop!" He exclaimed, sighing as he put his head in his hands. "I'm fine, ok?"

She believed him just as much as she believed Kim earlier that day.

There was a heavy silence, as Daniel smiled down at her. She stared right back, and for a moment, his façade faded away. He looked tired, defeated. If this were a year ago, he could have looked at her this way and she would have believed anything he said. But not anymore.

"You're not fine." Lindsay decided, watching the corners of his mouth release from the smile. "You're dropping out of school, you're dealing drugs, what do you think comes next Daniel? And I know why you didn't tell me about any of this. It's because you don't think you're worthy of help. You want to believe that you're a lost cause, because everything is easier that way. Well, I'm not going to sit back and let you do this to yourself. I'm sorry, but I'm here now. And I'm not leaving."

They both sat in silence for a moment. Lindsay was a little shocked at herself for the outburst. Her initial plan of attack was to remain calm, ease him into the conversation. Now all her cards were on the table, and this was either going to make or break their friendship. She had a brief out of body experience, wondering how the hell she had gotten herself into this situation. But it was happening. Daniel's hands tightened on the steering wheel, turning his face away from her.

"Things are easy for you." He murmured. "Not everybody gets to live a perfect life like you do."

"I know that, but that doesn't mean-"

"God Lindsay, this is why I've been avoiding you. You always think that you can help me, that you can make me a better person or something. Please, just stop. I don't want your help. I don't need you. I'm fine."

Lindsay was taken aback. "You've been avoiding me?" Her voice cracked as she said it, and she was horrified that she felt like she was about to cry. Noticing this, he began to backtrack.

"No, I didn't - I didn't mean that, I just-"

"Please, don't bother." Lindsay choked, undoing her seatbelt in a hurry. "I'm sorry for trying to help you. This was clearly a mistake."

As she opened the door to climb out, Daniel reached over her and pulled it shut. She could feel his breath on her neck, hear the slight hum of his heartbeat amongst the silence. She was temporarily aware of their close proximity. She had a feeling he remained in that position for a second too long, his hand brushing past her knee as they returned to the steering wheel.

"You really believe in me that much?" He asked quietly, staring through the front windscreen. Lindsay nodded.

"Of course I do. I always have."

He turned to her then, and she couldn't help but stare back. She could feel him studying her face, her eyes subconsciously flickering to his lips. She wasn't sure why, but she was suddenly very self-conscious. She looked away quickly, studying her hands intensely. Lindsay had convinced herself that the purpose of her visiting Daniel was to convince him that he could graduate, that he was good enough, that he was worth something. Deep down, she knew a big reason that she needed to speak to him was because she didn't want to lose him as a friend. He meant too much to her to ever have that happen.

"I should go home." She decided, feeling as though she was getting nowhere. "This is my first night of not being grounded, I don't wanna push my parents too far."

Daniel turned away from her then, leaning back in his seat. "Can we just sit for a bit longer? I can drive you home after."

"Sure."

They stayed that way for a while, with Lindsay still completely unsure whether or not her words had made an impact, but somehow it didn't really matter. Daniel wasn't Daniel anymore. He seemed fragile, more wounded than ever before. But maybe this was the real him, and she had just never seen this side before. She felt utterly depressed that nobody else seemed to believe in him the way she did, not his friends, nor his family. Lindsay didn't even bother asking what was happening back at the house – she figured if he wanted to talk about it, he would have said something by now. She knew his dad was sick, and obviously recently found out that his brother was an issue. But instead of asking, she joined in his silence, revelling in the comfort of it.

When he dropped her home later that night, he offered no more insight into what his plans were. But there was an understanding between them now, which was better than nothing. Daniel walked her to her front door, with Lindsay painfully aware her parents were watching them through the living room window. She cringed as her dad pulled the curtain shut when she spotted them, her mom ducking away in a hurry. Despite the grounding being lifted, she was still under police watch.

"Don't worry about me Lindsay." Daniel assured her when they came to a stop. "Everything is gonna be fine."

There was that word again, fine. Lindsay offered a smile, wanting to believe him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She thought about the fact that Daniel had to go home that night, and it made her heart hurt. She couldn't imagine her parents going off the way his had. She suddenly felt so incredibly selfish for thinking she had a difficult summer.

"Hey, why don't you come inside for dinner? My mom's been trying out these fancy new recipes, so I can't guarantee it will be good. But Sam misses you. And maybe you could talk to my dad about working with him?"

She hoped that he might at least consider the idea. Instead, he smirked, leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. Her eyes closed as she realized she was being shut down.

"Goodnight, Lindsay."

Lindsay smiled half-heartedly as he turned away, giving a small wave.

"See ya."

Feeling slightly defeated, she watched him drive away, not knowing when she would next see him, or if she would see him at all. Walking inside, she couldn't help but feel guilty that she was coming home to a family who cared about what she had done that day. Daniel didn't get to do that.


	4. Chapter 4

Lindsay laughed as Nick triumphantly held his free copy of Moving Pictures above his head, as though he was holding the key to the fountain of youth. They were outside Dearborn records, surrounded by disappointed Rush fans who hadn't gotten to the store in time to save $20. Lindsay too had secured her copy in her bag, thankful that she hadn't lined up for two hours for no reason. Not unexpectedly, Daniel hadn't turned up. The only thing was, Kim was busy that day too. And Ken had left once he realized he was the 21st customer in line. Not that he didn't go down without a fight, ripping a poster off the front door of the store and claiming that he deserved it after everything he had gone through.

So that meant it was just Lindsay and Nick, which was confusing for her because she was both horrified and thrilled by that prospect. There were still so many unanswered questions between them, feelings that probably had to be discussed at some point. But Lindsay knew now was not the right time, not when all of Nick's dreams had come true through the release of a single record.

"Man, I have been holding out for this for months." Nick exclaimed, as the two of them wandered back towards his car. "Seriously, this album is supposed to be better than any of their last ones, I didn't even know that was possible!"

Lindsay grinned to herself, for once, completely able to understand what he meant. Her time following The Grateful Dead had inspired her in ways she could never imagine. Most of all, her love of music had well and truly come forth, and Nick was one of the only people who understood that. More than once she found herself thinking about him on tour, knowing how much he would have loved it.

"So hey, why don't you come to my house to listen to it? I mean, as long as that won't bother your parents too much."

Lindsay felt her heart skip a beat, not knowing how to respond. Being alone with Nick was one thing, but being alone with him at his house was completely different.

"I would love to Nick but I – I promised Kim that I would listen to it with her for the first time." Lindsay knew it sounded like a lie, but Nick didn't seem to pick up on it.

"Oh, that's fine. I get it."

"Why don't we go to the park near my place?" Lindsay settled on, knowing that she wanted to spend more time with him, and feeling this was a good alternative. "I feel like we haven't caught up properly in a while."

It was true. With an enthusiastic yes, Nick drove them to the park around the corner from Lindsay's, their Rush albums long forgotten about as they sat in the swings next to one another. Lindsay absentmindedly swung back and forth as she listened to Nick talk about his summer. As it turned out, they really did have a lot to catch up on. She had been so focused on her antics over the break, that she had never really asked Nick what he had been up to. He seemed to be in a good place, which confused Lindsay further. His pot smoking ban was still in effect, swearing that he hadn't slipped up once the entire time she'd been gone. Lindsay could see that too, both physically and mentally. She was completely shocked at first that he actually managed to pull that off, but then just decided to be proud of him.

"My dad signed me up for this holiday basketball program too." Nick went on. "I think he felt bad after he sold my drums, he could see how bored I was. And it was kinda fun. At least basketball is something I'm actually good at."

She could see now that Nick didn't just look good because of the lack of drugs. His arms had gotten bigger, his torso somehow stronger. Lindsay could feel her cheeks heating up as she stared, turning away quickly.

"Do you think you'll stick with it?"

"I dunno. Maybe? If it means my dad gets off my back about the army then yeah, I probably will."

"That's so great, Nick." Lindsay replied genuinely, thinking of all the basketball trophies in Nick's house that had been previously looked over by him. She wondered how it were possible that he had changed so much over the past couple of months.

"I was actually gonna ask the coach if the school team needed any players. I don't know if they'll let me back on because of last time, but maybe if they can see how much I've changed since then."

Lindsay smiled at him, somewhat sadly this time. She realized that deep down, she could take no responsibility for these changes. It was all Sara. Sara was the one who convinced him to stop doing drugs. Sara was probably the one to steer him down the path of basketball. I mean, Sara had somehow also convinced him that becoming a disco dancer was his calling, so whose to know what other kind of power she had over him. Lindsay couldn't do any of that for him, no matter how hard she tried. It was a tough pill to swallow, even tougher when she thought of Daniel. Maybe she was wasting her time trying to help her friends. They were simply waiting for somebody better to come along.

"That's a great idea Nick, really."

"Yeah, well. We'll see." He grinned.

They sat there for a moment, Lindsay keenly aware that there was one question she hadn't asked him yet. It was an important one, well at least, it was important to her. But if she asked it, it might change things. The more time went on, the more her mind was screaming at her to fill the silence, so she blurted it out before she had time to regret it.

"Nick, what happened with you and Sara?"

She instantly felt better after asking, a huge weight lifted off her shoulders. Before he had the chance to answer, she found herself thinking of something Kim had told her before summer. She'd said that Nick and Lindsay were never going to be 'just friends'. She'd said that once Nick got a new girlfriend, Lindsay would want him back. She mentally cursed Kim, despite not knowing whether or not she was right.

Nick appeared slightly uncomfortable, kicking the dirt around his feet as he swung.

"Right, that." He pondered, as though it had been years ago. "I dunno, I guess thing's just kind of fizzled out."

"Nick!" Lindsay pushed, nudging him slightly. She had a new found confidence, now that she could tell Nick really wasn't cut up about the whole Sara situation. "Talk to me."

He smiled bashfully at her, shrugging lightly. "I guess it was a whole lot of reasons. I wasn't hanging out with my friends anymore. She was into all these things that I didn't like. Mostly it was because you and Ken were right. I think that maybe I was only doing all those things with her because I wanted to forget about you. And because I was hoping you would want to fix things between us."

All at once, Lindsay felt awful. All the feelings she had toward him, good and bad, came flooding back. She remembered the first time she kissed him, how she had felt so sorry for him, and somehow it had lead them here. She had turned Nick into a an obsessed puppy, and here she was, stringing him along again.

But was she? Lindsay liked hanging out with Nick. He made her happy, and she had missed him so much. Did that mean anything? Or did it mean nothing?

"Nick, I'm so sorry for what happened with us." She blurted out suddenly, in a moment of sincerity. "I shouldn't have treated you the way I did, it wasn't fair."

Nick appeared shocked. "Lindsay, no, you didn't do anything wrong. And please don't be sorry, I don't regret any of it."

She had a sudden urge to cry then, wishing she loved him as much as he had loved her. But things had never turned out that way.

"I think we need to be honest with each other from now on, ok?" Lindsay decided, the intensity of the situation dawning on her. What had started out as a quiet afternoon on the town with her friends had turned into a confronting scenario with her ex, not bad for her first day of not being grounded. Nick nodded in agreement.

"Well I mean, if we're being honest, then I should probably tell you something." Nick started, and Lindsay felt her stomach drop because she knew what was coming. "I thought about you all summer. And I'm not sure, but I think that I'm probably still in love with you."

Her eyes widened as she clamped her lips shut, unable to look him in the eye. She felt herself nodding her head over and over, realizing she was the one who initiated this conversation, so now she had to live with it.

"I missed you a lot, Nick. And I thought about you a lot." She decided on, watching as his eyes brightened at her words. She wrung her hands together. "I need some time to think about things."

She couldn't be any more honest with him. He seemed to accept it though, maybe a little too enthusiastically as he took her hand, running his thumb along her palm.

"Take as much time as you need."

They stayed like that for a while, Lindsay being the first to break eye contact with a blush. She had no idea what to make of the situation, but she definitely wasn't unhappy. Nick was different now, and so was she. That might mean that a relationship between them would also be nothing like last time. But for now, she didn't have to think about it too much. She was grateful for that.

Eventually, Nick drove her home. They both agreed they would listen to Moving Pictures that weekend, with him insisting it was going straight on the record player the second he step foot into his house. She laughed as he drummed along to the radio on the steering wheel along whilst parked outside her house, so enthusiastically that he kept hitting the horn.

"Nick, stop!" She laughed, slapping his shoulder. "My mom is inside."

"No, no, no, this is the best part, wait for it-" Nick raised his head, his eyes clenched shut as he feigned holding his drum sticks high in the air, before slamming them down on the wheel again.

"Oh my God." Lindsay grinned, her head in her hands as she jumped out of the car. "You really do need a new drum kit."

He wound down the window of the driver's side as Lindsay approached it, smiling up at her.

"Hey, it was really cool to hang out today. I really did miss you."

"Me too." She replied, waving for the last time as she wandered inside her house. Just as expected, her mom was right by the door as she entered, a knowing smile plastered on her face. She had always been a fan of Nick.


	5. Chapter 5

Lindsay spent the rest of that weekend studying for an upcoming calculus quiz, cramming in as much as she could to ensure she had time to listen to Moving Pictures. Her afternoon with Nick had put her behind in her studying more than she had expected, and she had a crazy moment where she wished her parents had grounded her the weekend after the quiz. She still had to organise her notes for the students she was tutoring, come up with an idea for a spread in the yearbook, and catch up on her mathelete work, all before 9am Monday morning. She was almost certain she was taking on too much, but didn't want to let her parents down any more than she already had. And it wasn't impossible; it just meant she might not be able to have any more solo outings with Nick, which wasn't the worst thing in the world.

She even had to tell Kim that she couldn't come over, mentally cursing herself that she had spent more time on Nick than her best friend that weekend. Kim had sounded cut on the phone when Lindsay told her no, sighing loudly as she launched into her classic irrationality routine.

"God Lindsay, you just don't care about anybody but yourself, do you?" Kim had spat, and Lindsay wanted to laugh at the hypocrisy of it all.

"Look Kim, I'm sorry. I just need to get this work done, I'll see you before class tomorrow ok?"

It hadn't been ok. Kim had lost it, which worried Lindsay immensely. The two of them had become firm friends over the summer, so for Kim to behave that way meant something was badly wrong. Lindsay told herself that tomorrow, Kim was priority number one.

By 11pm that Sunday night, she had given up on calculus. Her mind was starting to get fuzzy with different numbers, patterns and formulas, convincing her she had done more than enough work that weekend to warrant resting. Shoving her books aside, she reached for the new Rush record, smiling as she thought of the day before. It really was a different Nick. He hadn't called her all weekend, unheard of from their previous relationship. If this were a few months ago, the phone would have been ringing the minute she got out of his car.

Lindsay knew it probably wasn't a great record to fall asleep to, but she was too tired to care at that point. The drums blasted from the record player, so she turned it down to an appropriate level and deliriously fell into her bed. It must have only been five minutes before she dozed off, the sounds of Rush filling the room.

Two hours later, she was startled by a noise at her window. At first, she was certain she was dreaming. She could have sworn it was the sound of knocking, and then that she saw a figure in the window. But none of that could possibly be happening for real, so she sighed and closed her eyes again.

But then the knocking started again, and she sat bolt upright and realized none of it was a dream. She had a terrible feeling that it was Nick, knowing deep down that their afternoon from that weekend was too good to be true. Of course he had taken their only slightly intimate moments to mean that they were back on, and that it was appropriate to turn up in the middle of the night to say hello. Inwardly screaming, she jumped out of bed to get a better look at the window.

It wasn't Nick.

Her eyes widening in fear, she rushed over and unlatched the window, pushing it open as fast as she could. She wanted to cry, but instead stood their frozen as he climbed inside her room. He was clutching the top right corner of his forehead, but not doing enough to cover the small trickle of blood underneath. He was wincing, neck red with what was sure to become a stain of purple and yellow bruises in the days ahead. She didn't even want to imagine the wounds underneath his jacket. It was strange seeing people who were normally so outwardly strong appear weak, but that was the image of Daniel in front of her.

For a moment, she simply stood there in complete shock, for so many reasons. For one, he was clearly badly hurt. Another being that this was Daniel, why had he come to her in this state at 2 in the morning? But she put all that aside, immediately jumping into action as she rushed to her dresser, pulling out a spare shirt and handing it to him to press to the wounds on his face. She then quietly hurried to the kitchen, trying not to wake her parents, unable to find an ice pack so instead fetching a packet of peas and her moms frozen beef mince from the freezer for his soon to be bruises.

And then she headed back to her room, closing the door quietly behind her and sitting Daniel down on her bed, letting him cry on her shoulder as she ignored all the logic of the situation to help him. Without him saying a word, she could have guessed what had happened. And she knew why he had come here, not the hospital. She silently prayed that he hadn't made enough noise to wake her parents, who she knew she would be unable to explain the situation to. Not because she was worried about them catching her with a boy in her room, but because they would probably want to go to the police. And that wouldn't help anyone, least of all Daniel.

Her heart rate increased as Daniel finally sat up, clearly unable to look Lindsay in the eye after his display of vulnerability. He was breathing heavily, as though it was physically difficult for him. She noticed his hands were shaking, his knuckles bloody and scraped. Lindsay couldn't do anything except wait for him to speak. She heard him sigh heavily.

"I'm sorry for coming here so late."

Lindsay was dumfounded. "Daniel!" She shook her head at him. "I don't care. You can come here whenever you want, I don't – it's fine, ok? Just talk to me, please? What the hell happened to you?"

And then he told her everything. How his brother had convinced him that he'd be able to make fast money if they joined forces, dealing drugs. How he'd thought it was just small town stuff, but it turned out to be much, much bigger than that. That dropping out of school felt like the best option for him, because he was failing anyway, and figured he could make more money if he did more deals during the week. How his brother has clearly screwed some people over so when he had gone to meet them that night, they had jumped him. Stolen all the cash he'd made that day, and beaten him until he couldn't breathe anymore, that he thought he was going to die.

Lindsay tried to take it all in, but she was struggling. She could barely believe any of what she was hearing, so overcome with emotion that she was terrified she might burst into tears. She felt completely out of her depth. She had dealt with a lot after the death of her grandmother, but she had never experienced anything like this. She had no idea what to tell him, or how to respond. So she figured she could only do what she had always done; be there for her friend.

"I guess you wanna say I told you so." Daniel smirked, but there was no happiness in it. He was finally defeated, and it was depressing.

"What I want to say is that you need to go to the hospital." She replied coolly. "I know you don't wanna do that, but you're badly hurt, Daniel."

"I'm ok." He responded, wincing slightly as he adjusted his position on the bed. He reached for his lower back, eyes squinting in pain.

"Yeah, you seem great." Lindsay noted sarcastically, and he smiled for the first time since he'd arrived. Lindsay had no idea how he could be smiling. "Just try not to move your body too much, ok?"

"That's not exactly what I wanna hear when I'm lying on your bed, Linds."

She suppressed a smile, deeming it inappropriate given the situation. She ran a hand through her hair, watching him.

"You need to stop this, Daniel." She put carefully, so as not to hurt him any further. "Please. Stop hanging out with your brother and come back to school. I know you don't think you can do it, but I'm telling you that you can. I'll help you. If you can't do it for yourself, then please do it for me. I can't see you like this, it's scary."

He was watching her then, the two of them momentarily distracted by the immensity of their situation.

"I don't know if they're gonna let me back at McKinley. They seemed pretty happy to get rid of me."

"You mean you wanna go back?" Lindsay asked him, trying not to sound too shocked.

"Why do you think I'm here, Linds?" His voice was softer then, more sincere. "You're the only person who thinks I can do it. I'm sick of being a screw up. I'm so freaking sick of being a failure. I just wanna show everybody that I can do it."

Lindsay was instantly reminded of herself no less than a few weeks ago, having completely lost her parents faith. All she wanted to do was prove that she wasn't lost. That she was good enough to be something. And here was one of her best friends, wanting to do the same. In that moment, she felt closer to him than she ever had before.

"Well, I know you can do it." Lindsay replied softly, watching the corners of his mouth curve into a smile. She still wasn't sure what to make of the situation, whether or not he would follow through with his words. With Daniel, it was often difficult to know if he was being honest with himself, or if he was saying what she wanted to hear. But in that moment, he seemed sincere. "Do you wanna stay here tonight? I mean, if you can't go home or whatever."

"Are you sure? I don't wanna get you in trouble or nuthin."

Lindsay felt ashamed that she had thought about it. As much as she wanted to help Daniel, she also didn't want her parents to find out. Weeks of hard work trying to impress them would come undone if they found out a boy had stayed the night, let alone that boy being Daniel Desario. But she had to suck it up. He was more important than that.

"Sure. You just – you kind of have to leave really early tomorrow morning, ok?"

"Oh yeah, I know the drill." He smirked. "Love me then leave me, huh?"

"Shut up." Lindsay smiled, her eyes meeting his for a fleeting moment. She looked away when she noticed him staring at her, trying to ignore the thumping in her chest, annoyed at herself that it even existed in the first place. She jumped up, reaching under her bed for the spare mattress.

"This is surprisingly comfortable." She whispered as she dragged it out, realizing they hadn't done much to remain quiet throughout their conversation. "Well, at least Millie tells me it is."

He was looking down at her, watching her set up the spare bed. She was certain he wanted to make some joke about how they could have just both slept in her bed, but if he wanted to, he refrained. She was thankful for that, feeling as though there was enough tension as it was already. And she wanted to at least pretend that the idea of sleeping in the same bed as him hadn't come up in her mind at all.

She sat quietly on her bed and watched him as he took off his shoes, shook the beaten up leather jacket off his shoulders. Lindsay gasped at the extent of his injuries, noting that his torso was surely the worst of his injuries. He saw her reaction, tried to assure her that everything was ok. It was far from ok. She was terrified for a moment that if he fell asleep that night, he might not wake up the next morning. And whose fault would that be? Seeing as going to the hospital was out of the question, Lindsay let Daniel lay down on the mattress next to her, and defeatedly swung her own legs under the covers.

"Daniel." She started carefully, not wanting to push him too far. "Why do you need the money so badly anyway?"

He was quiet for a moment, and Lindsay didn't dare look down at him.

"Nuthin important." He decided on, sounding unconvincing. "But hey, if your dad still needs somebody to work at his store, I think I could be ok at it."

Lindsay smiled to herself, knowing that anyone could be ok at that job. "Well as long as he never finds out about you staying over, I'm sure I can arrange that."

"Thanks, Linds. You're amazing, you know that?"

Lindsay didn't respond, because she didn't know how to. For some reason, she thought of Kim. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Daniel, I know this sounds bad but can we just keep all of this between us? I'm probably completely overreacting but I just think it's better if nobody finds out that you stayed here. I mean normally it wouldn't bother me if people found out, it's just with Kim and everything-"

"Lindsay." He stopped her. "I wasn't going to tell anyone."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, good."

"Nobody knows about this except you anyway. And I kind of want it to stay that way." He muttered, and Lindsay felt her heart rate increase again. He really did trust her.

"Promise." She whispered back, rolling onto her side to look down at him. He was absentmindedly staring into space, playing with the cuts on his hand. He looked so lost, Lindsay wanted nothing more than to tell him everything was going to be ok. But she wasn't entirely sure that it would be. Joey was always going to be his brother, and you can't change your family. With him around, it was going to be difficult for Daniel to stay on track.

"Lindsay?" Daniel was looking up at her now, his eyes frantic as though he was trying to read her mind. He sat up suddenly so that their eyes were level, their faces close. Lindsay tried to ignore her heart pounding in her chest, combined with a feeling of overwhelming nausea. "Thank you. For everything."

For a moment, all she could hear was her own breathing, which was coming out short and fast. Before she even knew what was happening, she felt Daniel's nose brushing against hers ever so slightly in the dark of her bedroom, and then it wasn't just her breathing she could hear, but his. And just like that, everything changed. It was like she'd been living in the dark for so long, and somebody had finally turned on the light. It was the most elating, yet terrifying feeling.

Her mind was running overtime, and for some reason she chose to turn away from him instantly and roll over to the other side of the bed. She exhaled loudly, realizing she had been holding her breath.

"No problem Daniel, goodnight!"

She exclaimed it just a little bit too enthusiastically, not daring look back at him as she heard him sigh from behind her.

"Night."

She wasn't sure either of them slept that night, but she was sure of one thing; if there was a line, she was certainly close to crossing it.


	6. Chapter 6

Lindsay was awoken at 6am the next morning by the sound of her window opening, and the blurry image of Daniel clambering out. She was in complete disbelief that she had gotten away with having him stay over, the first time she had lied to her parents since she'd gotten back. The worst part was that she couldn't stop feeling so incredibly guilty, although she kept telling herself that she had no reason to. Sure, Daniel had stayed over, and there had been a weird moment where she had nearly stopped breathing, but that was it! It wasn't as though she had invited him over. There had been no physical contact between them, not in that kind of way, at least. And even if the most minor of nose touches had gone down, she was certain it was purely due to both of their emotions running high given the circumstances.

Plus, Lindsay had more important things to worry about that morning. Her calculus test was up first period, and she still had to meet Kim before class. The thought of doing that now caused knots in her stomach, but she had no choice. So she left the house with a smile, pretended nothing at all had happened that weekend, and got on the earlier bus to meet Kim at the smoking patio. And the façade seemed to be working; the more she told herself that literally nothing had happened, that she was simply helping her friend out, the easier it was to believe.

She felt like an agony aunt when she reached Kim, who was filing her nails down to the brim.

"Thank God. I've been needing to talk to you all week Lindsay, where the hell have you been?"

"I've been – I've been around." She shrugged absentmindedly. "You know how insane my parents are Kim, I have to make sure I'm keeping my grades up till graduation."

"Oh, right. So you're saying you being AWOL has nothing to do with a certain someone?"

"What?" Lindsay exclaimed, panic rising in her throat as she thought of the night before. "I don't know what you mean!"

"Yeah, right. It's fine Lindsay, I know you totally wanna screw Nick again."

Lindsay blinked, taking a moment to process what she had said.

"Kim! God, no. I don't wanna screw anybody…"

She let her voice trail off, as Kim had already started to interrupt her.

"Look, I have bigger problems than you and Nick, ok?" She huffed, slouching in her seat. Lindsay frowned, forgetting everything as she sat next to her friend. Kim was still roughly doing her nails, staring at the ground.

"I'm late."

Lindsay didn't understand at first. She quickly checked her watch, confirming they still had fifteen minutes till class started.

"Late for what?" Lindsay asked, earning an exasperated look from Kim.

"No, Lindsay. I'm _late_."

It hit her like a ton of bricks. Suddenly, nothing else was important to Lindsay except that her friend had been reaching out to her all week, and she had paid no attention to it. And for Kim to confide in someone about something like this, meant a lot. Lindsay knew not to scare her, to act as rational as she could.

"Ok. How late are we talking?"

"Well, only ten days or so. But I'm _never_ late, Linds."

Lindsay tried hard to suppress how absolutely terrified she was for her friend.

"Well then, we gotta go buy a test." Lindsay decided. "There's no point worrying until we know for sure. We can go after school, I can skip my yearbook meeting."

"You'd do that for me?" Kim mumbled quietly, and Lindsay scoffed.

"Are you serious, Kim? Of course I will. You're ten times more important to me than the stupid yearbook."

It was true. Kim meant a lot to her, and she needed a friend who was going to be there for her. Which was why Lindsay felt even guiltier about the night before. What the hell had she been thinking, letting Daniel stay over? She hadn't been thinking about Kim, that's for sure. Daniel had his own problems, and they were no less important than Kim's, but he had other people to turn to. Kim didn't really have anybody else.

With that thought, Lindsay became ashamedly distracted once again. The more she thought about it, the stranger it was that Daniel had come to her house in the first place. Why couldn't he have gone to Nicks? To Kens? Stroker, Mark, the list went on. Lindsay hated herself in that moment, knowing she should have told him to leave. She didn't want to keep secrets from Kim, especially about something like this.

But then again, Daniel wasn't exactly in the best situation either. Maybe she owed it to both of them to keep their trust, even if it violated the others. She tried to stop overthinking.

"This sucks." Kim moped, shoving her nail file to the bottom of her bag. "I seriously thought I had a chance to get out of this stupid town."

"You still do, Kim." Lindsay tried to assure her, placing an arm around her shoulder. "And besides, we don't know anything for sure yet. It could easily be a false alarm."

"I guess." Kim replied, sounding unconvinced.

The two of them sat there a moment, both surveying the immensity of the situation. Whilst Lindsay didn't want to worry just yet, she couldn't help but question one thing; if Kim was pregnant, who was the father?

As though she could read her mind, Kim answered that question for her.

"Listen, don't say anything to Daniel, ok?"

Lindsay felt her heart dropping, though she wasn't entirely sure why that was.

"Oh. No, I won't. I haven't seen him in a while anyway, so." Lindsay was nodding profusely, like she was trying to convince not only Kim, but herself of that lie.

"I mean, it might not even be his." Kim continued, and Lindsay tried to hide her shock. "I only slept with him like, three times since we got back from the tour. It's probably that guy Dave, I don't think we used protection once."

Without bothering to warn her about the stupidity of not using protection, Lindsay found herself unable to hold in her surprise.

"Wait, you slept with Daniel after the tour? I didn't even think you guys were talking!"

Kim rolled her eyes, smiling as though she knew some big secret that Lindsay couldn't possibly understand.

"We aren't talking. That doesn't mean we don't still have sex. I keep forgetting how innocent you are."

"But I thought you said you were done with him?" Lindsay found herself blurting out, immediately wishing that she hadn't.

"I _am_ done with him. God, could you not be so judgmental for five seconds? I have enough problems without you going all high and mighty on me."

Lindsay recoiled, biting her lip. There was so much going through her mind, she didn't know where to begin. So, Kim and Daniel had still been seeing each other. For some reason, that made last night so much more inappropriate. Lindsay didn't even dare think of telling Kim that Daniel had maybe gotten just that little bit too close. Especially not now, not when she was potentially carrying his child. The complexity of the situation started to dawn on Lindsay, and she suddenly wished the bell would ring so that she could get her stupid calculus quiz over and done with.

"I'm not judging you." Lindsay replied. "I just had no idea you guys were still seeing each other."

"Yeah, well." Kim shrugged. "It's been over a week since I've seen him. And it's not like I care or anything, but I have this bad feeling something could be wrong with him."

Again, the conversation was becoming painful. Lindsay wanted nothing more than to confess everything she knew, and pray that Kim understood. But that could never happen.

"Well, it's like you said." Lindsay responded. "I'm sure he can look after himself."

She wished for nothing more than to change the subject completely, but it looked like that had become impossible, given the sight that was now in front of her. Walking towards them was Daniel himself, accompanied by Ken, who looked happier than he had in a long time. His arms were covered, so there was no chance of the others seeing his bruises from the night before. The cut on his face was still obvious though, and Lindsay briefly wondered how he was going to explain that one. She realized from Kim's shocked face, that she herself didn't appear even slightly surprised. So she feigned it as best she could.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Kim muttered, turning to Lindsay frantically. "Not a word, ok?"

"Promise." Lindsay replied, making it the second time she had made a promise she wasn't sure she could keep, in just two days. She briefly caught Daniel's eye as he wandered over, giving him a quick smile before turning away. She couldn't read him, but one thing gave her satisfaction; he had listened to her. He was back at McKinley.

"Ladies, please. Hold your applause." Ken held open his arms as he wandered to the patio, gesturing to Daniel. "I know this overwhelming for us all."

"Overwhelming? I would have gone with disappointing." Kim exclaimed with a laugh, but nobody seemed to join in. Lindsay gave her a weak smile, not knowing what else to do.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Daniel mumbled, spreading out next to Kim as he joined them on the patio. "Thanks for the support, gorgeous."

"Ha." Kim scoffed, but Lindsay noticed her blushing. She also noticed the two of them staring at each other, and instantly felt a slight discomfort. "You look like crap." Kim continued, clearly having noticed his face. Daniel shrugged, giving no explanation.

"So, you're back!" Lindsay felt the need to express some kind of shock toward the whole situation, despite the fact she already knew everything. "What changed your mind?"

She couldn't hide her smile as Daniel turned to her, shrugging slightly.

"Guess I came to my senses."

"And you think they're gonna let you come back to school, just like that?" Kim raised her eyebrows at him, shaking her head as though he was insane. In a moment of perfect timing, Mr. Rosso came walking past the patio, stopping in his tracks with a grin as wide as anything.

"Daniel? Is that Daniel Desario I see?" Mr. Rosso came strutting over, and Lindsay suppressed a laugh as she saw Ken bury his face in his hands. "Man oh man, I was worried we wouldn't see your face around here again. Congratulations buddy, knew you had it in you."

Daniel gave a thin-lipped smile, accepting the high five Mr. Rosso had offered him.

"Right on." Mr Rosso exclaimed with a grin. "Ken, Kim, Lindsay." He greeted them all with a nod, marching back into the school.

"Well, at least somebodies happy to see me." Daniel mused, shooting Kim another look. This time, she wasn't go forgiving.

"Screw you, Daniel." She mumbled, slinging her bag over her shoulder and marching away from the patio. She got about ten metres away before turning back to them all. "Lindsay! Come on!"

Lindsay clenched her teeth, watching Kim wander off.

"I should probably follow her."

"For all of our sakes, please do." Ken retorted.

Lindsay pulled herself up, turning back to Daniel quickly. "Hey, I'm really glad you're back."

Daniel didn't seem to respond, instead asking Ken for a lighter as he pulled out his cigarettes. Lindsay didn't bother hanging around for something more from him, because it was clearly not going to come. Feeling slightly dejected, she gave the two of them a slight wave, before following Kim into the building.


	7. Chapter 7

Hands shaking, Lindsay sat by Kim in her bedroom later that afternoon, certain she felt more nervous than Kim herself. There were two pregnancy tests sitting on the faded blue pillow in front of them, a precaution she had forced Kim to undertake after hearing that they aren't always entirely accurate. It was difficult to sum up how Kim appeared. On the surface, she seemed relatively unphased about the whole thing. Her lips were pursed, arms folded as she impatiently sighed, no doubt wanting an answer as soon as possible. But if Lindsay knew her friend, she knew that she always acted like she didn't care as a defence mechanism. Either that, or she lost it completely. Lindsay wasn't sure which reaction was worse.

In that moment, nothing else was really important. Her lingering feelings for Nick were well and truly buried, Daniel and his confusingly alluring antics merely an afterthought. Lindsay wasn't even concerned about the fact she was going to fall behind on all her classes from her lack of study that night, because this was probably the most meaningful moment she and Kim had ever shared together. If their summer hadn't already cemented their friendship, this certainly did. That was the important thing.

Kim exhaled loudly, tapping her foot over and over until Lindsay was sure there would soon be a hole in the old floorboards.

"Come on! It's been like five minutes, something should have happened by now."

Just as she said it, something did happen. The two girls watched as the lines on the first test began to form. Lindsay could feel her stomach turn as not one, but two small blue lines appeared on the test, indicating that maybe, Kim hadn't been paranoid after all. Kim's eyes were wide, glistening as she picked up the test and held it in her hands for a moment. As she did, the second test began to change too. Lindsay picked up that one, frowning.

"Wait, this ones negative!" Lindsay exclaimed, thrusting the stick towards Kim.

"Are you kidding me?" Kim cried, grabbing it off Lindsay as she held the two tests at eye level. "That's just perfect. So we're back where we started!"

"Well, at least we bought two tests?" Lindsay offered, and Kim glared at her without an ounce of positivity.

"At least nothing! These stupid things don't even work properly, I should call the goddamn store and get my money back!"

"Kim. Look, these things happen, ok?" Lindsay tried to reason. "And we might not have a definite answer, but one of them was positive. That means that the next thing we have to do is go to a doctor."

"Yeah, right." Kim threw the tests back onto the pillow, collapsing next to them. "So what, I can be lectured by some smart old guy in a white coat who thinks he knows everything? No thanks."

"Kim." Lindsay said softly. "We have to be sure. I remember Millie telling me she once saw this amazing female doctor about half an hour up north of here, we can drive up there on Saturday."

Kim sniffed loudly, her head in her hands as she lay back, utterly defeated. "Fine."

That was all they could do. Lindsay didn't stay for much longer that night, opting instead to return home and organise her notes for her tutoring sessions that week. It was pointless though; she couldn't stop thinking about Kim, and how terrified she must be feeling. It was one thing to fall unexpectedly pregnant at 16, but another thing entirely to not know who the father was.

It also didn't help that her parents were less than thrilled about her spending more time with Kim. Despite her protests, Harold and Jean were still entirely convinced that following The Dead was Kim's idea. As she, Sam and her parents watched The Gong show that night, they pressed Lindsay on why she was still in the picture.

"Lindsay, we've been kind enough to let you see your friends but you're pushing it, young lady." Harold announced out of nowhere, and she wanted to laugh at first. One minute he'd been watching a contestant perform a comedy routine on the television, the next he'd flipped a switch and turned on her. She caught Sam's eye, stuck her tongue out at him quickly.

"I just don't think it's a good idea for you to be hanging out with someone like Kim." Jean continued empathetically. "I know she hasn't got a good home life like we do, but I do worry that you're getting dragged into it. It's not up to you to look after her, Lindsay."

"You used to have such nice friends. Whatever happened to them?" Harold sighed.

"I still see Millie." Lindsay mumbled, not bothering to defend her current friends because she knew it wouldn't make any difference. She was still on thin ice, the last thing she wanted to do was disrupt the rare peace she had found from her parents. Plus given the circumstances, she wasn't sure she was in any position to defend anyone. Instead, she changed the subject completely.

"Can you guys help me with yearbook ideas? I have to come up with a two page spread by tomorrow, I didn't get around to it on the weekend."

"Oh, and I wonder why that was?" Harold pressed on. "Nothing to do with you ditching your responsibilities to see those burnouts, would it?"

"How about something to do with the drama club?" Sam suggested, Lindsay shooting him a thankful glance. "We're doing Grease this year, with a real band and everything."

"Wait a minute, we?" Jean was beaming. "Sam, you didn't tell us you'd joined the drama club!"

"Yeah, well. It's not a big deal or anything." Sam shrugged. He shuffled in his seat bashfully, but there was a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"That's great, Sam!" Lindsay exclaimed, inwardly kicking herself that she hadn't known about this. She and her brother had always gotten along, but lately she'd been too distracted to take an interest in his life. She felt bad, knowing that she had taken up the majority of their parents attention lately. It must have been difficult for him, having to deal with the second hand anger that Lindsay had caused. "Who are you playing?"

"Well, nobody yet." Sam mumbled. "I mean, auditions are on tomorow after school. I'm gonna go for Danny."

Lindsay suppressed a giggle at the thought of Sam playing bad boy, too-cool-for-school, chick magnet Danny.

"Good for you, Sam." Harold nodded towards him. "I'm glad at least one of our children is investing their time in something important."

Lindsay didn't respond, because she didn't have anything to say. Instead, she began brainstorming ways to include the drama club in a two page spread. She was too distracted to come up with another idea, anyway. She briefly considered asking her dad about getting Daniel a job, but knew it wasn't the best time to do so. With the way her parents were acting, she was starting to wonder if there would ever be a good time to ask.

After school the next day, Lindsay decided to watch Sam at his audition. It was a welcome escape, given the surprising responsibilities her friends had thrust upon her that week. She walked down the halls toward the gym after the last bell, a surge of drama kids rushing past her as they practised their lines. The last person she expected to see exit the gym was Nick, but there he was, looking defeated as he headed straight for her.

"Hey, Nick!" Lindsay called out to him, her heart jumping a little. She'd realized they'd never actually discussed what had happened that weekend. She played with the hem of her jacket sleeves as he came toward her, her mind flicking back to when he'd held her hand on the swings just a few days before.

"Oh, hey Lindsay." He replied as he dribbled a basketball down the hall. "The gym is off limits at the moment apparently."

"Oh, yeah I know, they're holding auditions for Grease. Sam's trying out." She shrugged. "What were you doing in there anyway?"

"Coach Fredrick's said that if I show that I'm serious, he'll let me back on the team." Nick beamed, and Lindsay couldn't help but do the same back. "I thought I should practise where he can see me."

"Nick, that is so cool!" Lindsay exclaimed, having a strange urge to hug him. She resisted though, instead opting for an awkward punch on the shoulder. She cringed, not knowing why she did it, but luckily he seemed to find it funny. "Do you think if you get back on the team your dad might not send you to the army?"

"Well, hopefully." Nick grinned. "I've been doing well this term. I even got a B on my history paper last week. Well, it was a B Minus, but still."

"Well, congratulations." Lindsay nodded at an ecstatic Nick. "I always knew you could do it."

"Yeah. Yeah, you did." Nick stared at her with a smile, and she felt a slight discomfort as her mind trailed back to last year. She was momentarily rooted to the spot, not paying attention to anything but his eyes, and the way he was looking at her. She only snapped out of it when she heard music coming from the gym.

"Well, I gotta go watch Sam." She explained, hitching her bag higher onto her shoulder. As she began to walk away, she realized that she couldn't just leave him standing there. "Do you maybe wanna come with me? It could be kind of fun."

He didn't even ponder his answer, following Lindsay into the gym without any hesitation, basketball under his arm. They sat in a couple of chairs toward the back of the gym, next to what looked like the beginning of the set being built. It looked as though the gym was going to be off limits to anyone who wasn't in the play for a very long time. Lindsay spotted Amy at the front of the stage, sitting with the other band members who were surely sick of playing _We Go Together_ over and over again. She gave them a small wave, before turning her concentration back to the tuba.

Lindsay watched as one by one, different students gave it their all to impress a delighted Mr Rosso, who must have been in charge of the casting process. It came as no surprise to her, after being forced to sit through his Alice Cooper cover the year before. What did come as a surprise was when Sara appeared on the stage. She watched Nick shrink into his seat next to her.

"Oh no." Lindsay bit her lip. "I'm sorry Nick, I had no idea she would be here."

As the music started to begin her audition, Sara was beaming out into the relatively desolate gym. Her smile dropped when it landed on Lindsay and Nick, being replaced by what could only be a mixture of hopelessness and confusion. Lindsay felt awful, knowing how horrible it must be for Sara to see them together. And to make it worse, she then missed her cue. She appeared utterly frazzled as the band started the song again, forcing a smile onto her face as she got into position again. Lindsay looked at Nick, who was vacantly staring straight ahead at nothing in particular.

"Are you ok?"

"Who, me?" Nick asked overenthusiastically. "Oh, I'm great. I'm so great."

It sounded completely unbelievable, but she didn't say so. Instead, they awkwardly sat through Sara's routine without saying a word, with Nick appearing rather distracted by the basketball under his feet. Lindsay wished she was anywhere else.

Luckily, Sam was up next. She resisted the urge to jump up and cheer for him, instead opting to give him a quick thumbs up before the music started. If anything, Sam seemed annoyed that she had come to watch him, but surely sisters were supposed to embarrass their brothers sometimes. Halfway through his audition, Lindsay realized Sam had no reason to be embarrassed. He was surprisingly good. His singing wasn't off the charts, but he was responding to the musical cues perfectly, his acting was surprisingly entertaining. Lindsay wondered when on earth Sam had become interested in theatre, automatically assuming he must have joined because of a girl. Next to her, Nick was pretending to drum along with the music, a huge grin on his face.

"He's really good!" He whispered to Lindsay, who nodded in agreement. Maybe Sam actually had a shot at being a lead. That would make her parents happy, and then at least they might stop being mad at her for a night or two.

About half an hour later, auditions were over. Mr Rosso announced that the cast list would be finalized that night, so they would find out the next day if they got a role. Lindsay and Nick waited for Amy to pack up her tuba, the three of them exiting the gym together.

"Did you guys get there in time to see Shelly Weaver screw up that last note?" Amy asked. "Best moment of my day, my week even."

"Aw, you're starting to sound more and more like Ken every day." Nick teased, dodging a punch in the shoulder from Amy.

"What did you think of Sam?" Lindsay asked Amy as they wandered through the now empty halls, the three of them being the last to leave that afternoon. "You think he has a shot?"

"He's definitely in with a chance." Amy shrugged. "Plus, Mr Rosso likes him. It's just hard to imagine your brother playing Danny, you get me?"

"Oh, I get you." Lindsay agreed, thinking of the other strong male leads they had watched audition. They definitely looked the part more than Sam did. Lindsay briefly imagined Daniel playing the lead, he certainly fit the profile. She had a crazy scenario in her head where Kim and Daniel played the leads opposite each other, in love in one scene, hating each other the next…

As though she could read her thoughts, Amy jumped in.

"You guys aren't going to meet Kim right now, are you?" She totally bit my head off at lunch, over nothing. I swear she's been acting insane since Daniel came back to school." Amy rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well. What's new?" Nick responded, tossing his basketball in the air as he walked. Lindsay felt her chest tightening.

"She's going through some stuff at the moment." Lindsay offered, not wanting to reveal too much. "I'm sure she didn't mean it."

Nick and Amy exchanged a knowing glance.

"Classic Lindsay, always wanting to see the best in people." Amy joked. "Anyway, if she's hanging out tonight then I'm going home."

"God, was she that bad?" Lindsay asked, not because she wanted to defend Kim, but because she was suddenly a little bit worried. The one thing that made Kim truly angry was when Daniel had done something wrong, usually with another girl involved. All she could think of was Daniel sleeping at her house. There was absolutely nothing else in her head.

"She told me that I only joined the band because I had no friends and I wanted to 'blow' something." Amy answered. Nick laughed out loud, and Lindsay tried to hide her shock with an unsuccessful laugh. Kim really liked Amy, so it didn't make any sense. The uncertainty of her pregnancy was surely the reasoning, but Lindsay did find herself wondering if it was something more.

"Sounds like Kim alright." Nick replied. Lindsay wasn't so light-hearted about it all. Explaining that she had a ton of work to do that night, she left the two of them on the front steps of the school and wandered home alone. She didn't accept a lift home, she didn't offer to hang out. All she wanted to do was collapse on her bed, listen to her Grateful Dead record on repeat and cry.


	8. Chapter 8

Harold dropped Lindsay and Sam to school that Friday morning, a stack of posters advertising A1 Sporting Goods on the back seat of the car. Since business apparently wasn't great, his brilliant idea was to influence all the jocks of McKinley to shop at his store rather than the new department stores. Lindsay knew it would take a lot more than a few posters to persuade them, but was counting on the stupidity of the jocks to blindly follow whatever information was plastered in front of them.

"And don't just throw the posters around all willy nilly." Harold repeated for the fiftieth time as they pulled up to the school gate, handing both Sam and Lindsay a stack each. "Be strategic about it. I want them on the back of the bathroom stalls, at least half in the gym, a few on some kids lockers. Don't waste them in the library, nobody who plays sports ever hangs out in there. Do you understand me?"

"Gee, I don't know how we're gonna manage to remember all that." Lindsay rolled her eyes sarcastically, stepping out of the car with Sam.

"Dad, people are gonna laugh at me if I do this." Sam complained. "And I don't know if they're gonna let you do it anyway."

"What? Your school doesn't want to support a local business, is that what you're telling me?"

Lindsay wanted nothing more than to get away from her father and throw her posters in the closest bin she could find, but now he was getting out of the car himself.

"Fine. I'll hand them out." Harold took the posters from Sam in a huff. "You know, this store is what puts food in your mouth. I'd be a little more supportive if I were you."

Lindsay was momentarily distracted as she watched Daniel's car pull into the parking lot, he and Kim getting out together. Kim was marching off toward the patio looking frustrated, Daniel staying put as he ran a hand through his hair. She made a mental note to stop trying to figure out whether or not they were together. Daniel spotted her as she, Sam and her father walked through the gates. She was startled when he came running over, realizing she'd never asked her dad if he could have a job at the store. With everything going on, it had completely slipped her mind.

"Hey Linds. Sam. Good morning Mr Weir." He greeted them all one by one, nodding to Harold.

"Morning." Harold replied gruffly, looking distinctly uncomfortable with the entire situation. Lindsay watched as Sam scurried off while he had the chance, wishing she could do the same. Daniel stood in front of them both, hands buried deep in his pockets as he rocked back and forth on his heels.

"What'cha got there?" He asked, nodding to the posters.

"They're advertisements for my store." Harold replied, looking to Lindsay as though he wanted out of this conversation. "God knows we need the help."

"Oh, well if you need an extra pair of hands, I could help you hand these out." Daniel suggested. Lindsay took this as an opportunity to jump in.

"Actually dad, Daniel's looking for an after school job. I thought maybe he could come help you out in the store."

Daniel shot her a smile.

"Well, I don't know." Harold sounded apprehensive. "Do you know much about sports?"

"Oh, yeah! Lots." Daniel was clearly lying. She looked him up and down quickly, taking in his ripped jeans, old grimy long sleeve shirt and half closed eyes that looked like he wasn't yet awake. It had to be the worst job interview anyone had ever gone through, but Daniel was persistent if anything. "Yeah, I played soccer when I was in middle school. And sometimes I watch the game on tv."

"The game?" Harold asked, his face crinkled in confusion. "What game?"

"Oh, you know. All of them" Daniel shrugged, and Lindsay everything not to burst out laughing next to him. Hearing Daniel talk about his love for sports was like watching a dog walk on its hind legs. Harold too didn't look convinced, but she gave him a pleading glance. Daniel needed this, more than anything.

"Well, I suppose I could use the help, especially since Lindsay quit."

Lindsay pursed her lips, not bothering to correct her dad to say that she had never 'quit', she had simply gone back to school and taken on a million other responsibilities.

"I don't really have the time to train you up though." Harold continued, and Lindsay found herself piping up.

"I can train him dad. I know the store back to front now, anyway."

Harold looked from Lindsay to Daniel, both silently pleading with him. This wasn't the way Lindsay wanted to ask him, because now she wasn't sure what he would say. When her dad was in a bad mood, he only saw red. He huffed loudly, handing his posters to Daniel.

"Well, how about you come in tonight? Lindsay can train you, we'll see how it goes."

Daniel accepted enthusiastically, with Harold giving a brief nod before hurriedly leaving the conversation. Somehow, her dads discomfort with being around Lindsay's new friends seemed to work in their favour that morning. She never thought she'd see the day that somebody was genuinely happy to become employed at her dads store, unable to stop grinning at Daniel's expression. He didn't properly react until Harold had driven away, when he immediately pulled Lindsay into a hug. She laughed as his arms wrapped around her torso, patting him on the back lightly.

"Trust me, you won't be thanking me in a weeks time." She smiled, her face still buried in his chest. His arms tightened around her, and Lindsay found herself completely lost in the moment. It took her a good minute to remember they were essentially on the front steps of McKinley, the thought suddenly snapping her out of her trance. She told herself to stop, that Kim got out of his car less than five minutes ago. More to the point, that Kim was her best friend. And suddenly, she felt very stupid that she had agreed to train Daniel in the store on a Friday night, because despite the presence of her dad, it meant they would be spending a lot of time together.

She pulled away from him instinctively, shoving the A1 posters in her bag to make it look like she was doing something at least slightly important.

"Don't expect me to be good or nothin." Daniel said as they wandered into school. "I've never worked in a store before. You'll have to teach me your ways."

"My ways?" Lindsay grinned.

"Yeah, you know. Like your tricks." Daniel was smirking down at her. "Shortcuts, if you will."

Lindsay hit him in the chest, remembering how badly it had turned out the time she tried to tutor him. She had a feeling he was ready to be serious now, despite the look on his face.

"So we should hang up these posters." Daniel sighed, already sounding disappointed that he'd agreed in the first place. "Lets just put them all in the gym, I can't be bothered."

Behind them, Kim was walking over from the patio. Lindsay's heart paced as she couldn't help but recall her conversation with Amy the day before. Her and Kim were due to visit Doctor Brenda Sykes the very next day to find out if Kim was pregnant, and she had a feeling things were going to be tense enough without having to explain why she was hanging around with Daniel that morning.

"I uh – I actually gotta get to class. I have history first up." Lindsay spoke quickly, already walking away from him. "I'll see you later, ok?"

Daniel didn't reply as Lindsay half ran over to Kim, trying to clear her face of any guilt. She listened as Kim launched into her tiring speech listing all the reasons Daniel was horrible, how he should fall into a ditch and never come out. Lindsay was finding it increasingly difficult not to defend him, especially as she caught a glimpse of him hanging up one of the posters on the front door of the school. He was struggling with one of the corners, eyes concentrated as he tried to flatten it down. She didn't mention to Kim that she had to train him in the store that night, because she couldn't see any scenario where that would go down well. Instead, she had to come to terms with the fact that she was lying to her best friend, again.

After her tutoring session that night, Lindsay reluctantly made her way to A1, her mind running a million miles a minute. She wondered if it was too late to back out and go home, but at the same time she didn't want to let Daniel down. The worst part was that in the back of her mind, she was secretly thrilled about spending the night with him. Thrilled, but absolutely terrified.

He had unexpectedly arrived before her, leaning against the side wall of the store with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. She almost laughed out loud as she wandered over.

"Hey." She called out to him. "My dad is definitely not going to hire you if he sees you doing that."

He appeared unphased, taking one last drag before folding the edge of the cigarette over, placing it in his pocket.

"Yeah, right." He nodded as she reached him. "Sorry. That was stupid. I'm not gonna be good at this, am I?"

"You're going to be fine." Lindsay smiled at him, her mind involuntarily wandering back to when he had come to her house almost a week ago, how close they had been. She scrunched her eyes shut for a second, turning away from him immediately. "C'mon." She said it too enthusiastically, rushing into the store without checking to see if he was following her.

At the start, she seemed to be the one who had no idea what they were doing. A delivery came in at one point, and she was so distracted that she had no idea where any of the boxes were meant to go, despite having done it about a million times. She also knocked over an entire basket of tennis balls, which Daniel couldn't stop laughing about. That was the point her dad had pulled her aside, having been watching the two of them go about their dysfunctional training shift.

"Lindsay, you're acting loopy!" He had hissed at her, keeping a firm eye on Daniel as he was lazily hanging some fishing line on the wall. "I knew this was a bad idea."

"No! Dad, please. I'm just really tired from studying all week. Just give him a chance, he's going to be fine." Lindsay had pleaded with him, which had somehow worked. Harold said that if she didn't take it seriously, then he was out. She had excused herself at that point, gone to the bathroom and said to herself, out loud, that she was being completely ridiculous. The only important thing in her life at that point, was that Daniel was struggling and Kim was struggling. She had to help them both, there was no other option. So she inwardly screamed to pull herself together, before finding him again.

Everything seemed to go ok after that. Apart from his complete lack of enthusiasm, Daniel was doing fine. Lindsay found it so strange to watch him in a foreign environment. He was normally so comfortable, so cool at whatever he did. Here, they existed in a world where she knew so much more than him. It was so intriguing to see the corners of his eyes crinkle shit as he read the labels on products, trying to figure out where they went. He was trying. She wasn't sure that she had ever seen him do that before.

It was just before 9pm when Harold finally gave the verdict they had been waiting for – he was more than happy to take Daniel on board. Only two shifts a week, but that was going to work well with school, and give him enough money to finance whatever it was he needed to finance. Lindsay watched in slight disbelief as Daniel and her father shook hands, with Harold allowing them to leave early so he could close up alone. She had a slight feeling that her dad would have hired Daniel regardless of how the shift had gone; he cared about his business, but deep down it was more important to him to look out for people. The entire night had been an obvious cry for help, which Harold has surely picked up on.

Giving him one last wave goodbye, Lindsay left her father in the store and followed a beaming Daniel to his car, unable to hide her own smile. She instantly felt a huge weight lifted off her shoulders, so grateful that for once, things had gone well for him. Maybe, he was going to be ok after all.

"This is great." Daniel murmured as he started the car. "Lindsay, you have no idea how much this means to me."

"Oh, it's fine." She grinned as she stared out the window, watching the store gradually grow smaller and smaller as they drove into the distance. She was slightly dazed, not entirely sure why.

"No, really." Daniel continued. "You have no idea."

There was a silence then. Lindsay didn't know what to say, wringing her hands together as they drove toward her place. She was painfully aware of how close they were, how hard her heart was beating. She hated feeling this way, but it didn't seem to be going away anytime soon. She glanced at him quickly, his expression distant. All she had to do was wait for him to talk.

"My dad is sick." Daniel put bluntly. She was slightly taken aback, despite the fact she had expected him to say it. "He's…he's worse than he's ever been. My mom can't afford the medical bills anymore so…yeah."

He continued to stare straight ahead, showing no emotion. Lindsay knew he didn't need sympathy in that moment. That wasn't what he wanted, even though this was the first time he had admitted what all of this was about. She knew all of this, but all she wanted to do was reach out and hug him, tell him that everything was going to be ok. But just like with Kim, she couldn't do that. Because she would be lying.

"You're a really good person." She settled on, mustering up the courage to look him in the eye as she said it. They had reached her house now, so he was no longer looking at the road. He was staring right back at her. For a moment, she couldn't think at all.

"You're the only person who thinks that." He murmured, not looking away from her. For a second, she was taken back to the time she had approached him in the cafeteria, when he had asked her to hang out at the smoking patio. So much had happened since then, yet they were here, together. Nothing had changed, not really.

"Daniel, that's not true." Lindsay said, her heart beating faster because he was still staring at her. She wasn't sure if she was uncomfortable or ecstatic, but it was beginning to dawn on her the inappropriateness of their situation. Even though nothing had happened, Lindsay could feel a line being crossed, and it made her feel sick when she thought of Kim. What would she think if she happened to drop by, and see them together in his car, late on a Friday night?

"Yeah, right." Daniel continued. "Kim hates me. Everybody else just thinks I'm stupid."

"What, even Ken? Nick?"

"Especially them." He smirked at her. She shrugged.

"Kim doesn't hate you." Lindsay spoke softly. He turned away from her then. "She's just had a bad week, and you know what she's like. She loves you, I know she does."

"Right. Ok then." Daniel nodded sarcastically, his hands tightening on the steering wheel.

"It's true. She just – she has a strange way of showing it." Lindsay continued, feeling utterly strange talking about Kim like this.

"Yeah, by screaming at me. All the time. I swear she's been a total bitch all week, it's driving me crazy."

"She doesn't mean to be like that." Lindsay continued to defend her, wanting nothing more than to go inside and stop discussing her best friend. It was too surreal, and much too uncomfortable. Daniel turned back to her then, a look of admiration in his eyes.

"I just wish that sometimes she would support me, you know? I mean, why can't she ever just say something nice to me for once? Like you. You'd be a great girlfriend."

Lindsay blinked twice, unsure if she had heard him correctly. Scarily enough, she had. And instead of thinking about Kim, she thought of Nick. How he had told her that he was still in love with her. How for some reason, she had barely thought about that all week. And now she was almost certain, that the reason was sitting right next to her. It wasn't just Kim who would be upset about this entire scenario. It was Nick, too.

"I, um…I gotta go." Lindsay mumbled, not skipping a beat as she grabbed her bag from under her feet, opened the car door and left him sitting there, not bothering to turn back as she walked inside her house. She prayed that it would be easy to forget what Daniel had just said, but as she lie awake all night thinking about it, she realized that was impossible.

Secrets were building, and it seemed only a matter of time before they all toppled over.


	9. Chapter 9

Lindsay stood with Kim outside the doctors clinic the next day, the two of them apprehensive as they decided whether or not to go inside. Kim looked terrified, the reality of the situation surely sinking in. Lindsay too was terrified, but for other reasons.

"Maybe we should just go home. I mean, I'm probably not even pregnant." Kim shrugged, turning away just as Lindsay grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"We've already made the appointment, Kim. We need to find out for sure."

Inside was incredibly intimidating. The white walls seemed to engulf them as they sat in the waiting room, surrounded by other patients. Kim stared at a baby across the room who was playing with their mother, a look of sheer terror on her face.

"This sucks." She mumbled to herself, throwing her head in her hands. Lindsay couldn't argue with her, mainly because her thoughts were pre-occupied with the night before. She hadn't breathed a word to Kim about what had happened, nor did she plan to. Given the already high tension, she figured it was the worst thing she could do.

"Kim Kelly?"

The two girls froze as Kim's name was called out about half an hour later, Kim gripping onto Lindsay's hand so tight that she thought her circulation would be cut off. She sighed heavily.

"Come in with me?"

Lindsay and Kim followed Brenda Sykes into her practise, her warm smile doing nothing to ease the anticipation that filled the air. They sat down on some plastic chairs, a poster of an attractive man and a woman running through a field opposite them. Lindsay always found it funny that doctors rooms subconsciously tried to convince you that everything was going to be ok, when that simply wasn't true.

"Now, Kim." Brenda started. She was tall and pretty, hair that fell in orange curls down her back. Her expression appeared to be that of the stark opposite to Kim's. "You mentioned on the phone that you think you might be pregnant, I'm guessing that's still the case?"

"Well, yeah?" Kim scoffed. "Nothing's changed in two days, believe it or not."

Lindsay cringed. Brenda seemed unphased, giving the two of them a soft smile.

"Ok. How long have you thought you might be pregnant?"

Lindsay sat in silence as Kim explained her situation, her uncertainty, the pregnancy test conundrum. Brenda was writing down on her notepad as she spoke, nodding her head every so often. She explained that she would have Kim do another test, one that was almost entirely accurate, not like the home kits. She told them that it should only take around five minutes to work after the sample had been produced, but that she would do a blood test to triple check, and that the results from that would be back in a couple of days.

Lindsay sat helplessly as Brenda accompanied Kim to a private bathroom. She stared at the happy couple on the wall, wishing herself away to a land where everybody was fine and there were no consequences for anything. She was scared for Kim, more than anything else. But there was another thought that kept niggling away in the back of her mind, one that she was trying to supress but it just kept on appearing. It was that she and Daniel kept having these moments, moments she never thought would happen. If Kim was pregnant, it changed everything.

Moments later, Kim re-appeared. She looked distressed, sitting on her hands as she rocked back and forth.

"Kim. I'm always going to be here for you, ok? No matter what happens." Lindsay spoke softly, staring at her friend who shot her back a teary eyed smile. Lindsay wanted to cry too.

About six minutes later, Brenda entered the room again. She still had that same warm smile, mirroring those of the couple on the wall.

"Well Kim, I have your results. Now I have the feeling this isn't what you want to hear, but as it turns out, the test has come back positive. From what I can tell, you're round about eight weeks along. Now, we obviously need to discuss options…"

Brenda's voice trailed off as Lindsay found herself zoning out and concentrating on her own thoughts. Everything was a blur, so much so that she was almost convinced she must have misheard the doctor. Kim couldn't be pregnant. She's sixteen, it's not ok for her to be pregnant. Daniel's scenario had worked out, so surely Kim's was going to as well.

But then Lindsay snuck a glance at Kim, whose expression had white hot fear written all over it. And suddenly the world came crashing down again, as reality sunk in. Lindsay realized that she couldn't save everyone. Sometimes, things didn't work out the way you needed them to. And in this moment, things couldn't possibly be any worse.

"Kim?"

Brenda's voice seemed to suck them both out of their individual trances, snapping them back to reality. "I want to book you in for another session sometime in the next few days. That way we can triple check all of our blood work. We can work out where you want to go from here. In the meantime, because you're sixteen I think it's best if you talk to your parents about this. And I do think it would be a good idea to talk to the father, if he's still involved."

Kim's head was in her hands, shaking from side to side.

"How the hell am I going to tell Daniel this?" She sobbed. "He can't even take care of himself, let alone a child. God damn it, I've ruined my life."

"Now Kim, your life is far from ruined…"

Brenda continued to talk, but Lindsay was feeling a little dizzy. She started thinking about what she had said before, that Kim was eight weeks along in her pregnancy. If that was true, then Kim had conceived during The Grateful Dead tour. And if that was the case…

Lindsay didn't say anything until they had left the clinic. They had made a second appointment for that Tuesday, with Kim reluctantly agreeing to talk to her mom about it. Lindsay was almost certain that wasn't going to happen. It would essentially mean her being kicked out of home, left to fend for herself. Lindsay had no intention of telling her own parents either, they would never understand. They climbed into Kim's car, which was when Kim broke down. She was crying so hard, Lindsay was genuinely concerned that she couldn't breathe. Somehow, it didn't seem right to reveal to Kim the truth in that moment. She had to let her cry, she had to let her come to terms with what was going on. After a while, Lindsay started to cry too. It really wasn't fair that after having such an amazing summer, this was how Kim's life had turned out.

Eventually, Kim was composed enough to drive them both home. Neither of them had any idea of what to say, nor how to respond to the situation. It wasn't until they pulled up at Lindsay's place that either of them were really able to come to terms with it all.

"Well, my life is totally over." Kim sighed loudly, tapping her fingers hard on the steering wheel. "All this time, I actually thought I had a shot at doing something good, you know? Should have known things would turn out this way. They always do."

"Kim, you still have a shot." Lindsay said, not sure if she was trying to convince Kim or herself of that. "Look, you have options, ok? And I'll be here, no matter what you decide to do."

"Yeah, right." Kim scoffed back. "Can you even imagine me and Daniel trying to raise a baby? The stupid thing won't stand a chance."

Lindsay's heart rate increased as she cleared her throat, wondering what was the best way to tell Kim the truth. She realized after much inward deliberation, that there really was no way this could go well.

"Kim, the doctor told you that you were eight weeks pregnant, right?"

"Yeah? So?"

"So? Kim, eight weeks ago we were in Memphis. Following The Dead."

"What's your point, Lindsay?"

"My point is that if you conceived eight weeks ago, then Daniel isn't the father. Not unless he somehow came to Memphis without you telling me."

All of a sudden, Kim's expression turned cold. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, eyes distant as she came to terms with what Lindsay had just told her. Lindsay was actually worried that she was going to start crying again, but she didn't. Instead, she shrugged.

"Yeah. I knew that."

"So…what are you going to do? Do you want to try and get in touch with Dave? I mean if he's the father, he probably has the right to know about it."

"God, no!" Kim exclaimed, exhaling loudly as she turned to Lindsay, a pained desperation in her eyes. "Lindsay. Do you mean it when you say you'll be there for me, no matter what I decide to do?"

Lindsay gave her a look to say that was obvious. "Of course I mean it!"

"Well then, you have to promise me you won't try and contact Dave. I don't want him to know anything about this."

Lindsay wasn't sure that was such a good idea, but she nodded her head anyway. After all, it was Kim's choice, not hers.

"I promise."

"Ok." Kim kept her glare on Lindsay. "Then you have to promise me something else. I'm gonna tell Daniel that he's the father. You have to promise me that you won't tell him, or ANYONE, the truth."

For a moment, Lindsay couldn't speak. It was the most horrifying thing she had ever heard Kim say, and the scariest part was that she was completely serious about it.

"What are you – Kim, no! I can't do that!"

"Lindsay!" Kim was hysterical now, her eyes darting all over the place. "This is my baby. It's my choice, ok?"

"Well yeah, but it's not his baby! Kim! You can't do that to him! How could you even think about doing that?"

"You just said that you would support me." Kim was close to tears again. "I'm asking you to do this one thing for me."

"Kim, no." Lindsay too was nearly in tears, because she couldn't believe she had to stand up to her best friend like this. Mostly, she couldn't believe that Kim would be willing to do something like this.

"Linds, please." Kim was desperate now, and for a moment all that could be heard was the strained breaths coming from both of them. "If he finds out the truth, then me and him are over. He would never forgive me for that."

"I thought that was what you wanted?" Lindsay felt her voice getting louder.

"Well yeah, but-"

"But nothing. Kim, you've done nothing but be horrible to him for weeks. How do you think he's going to feel if he thinks he's going to be a dad, then finds out it was all a lie? You would be ruining his life! I'm not going to let you do that to him. It's not fair."

"Fair?" Kim exploded. "Who cares about fair? I love him so much Lindsay, I can't lose him. I can't."

"Then you need to talk to him." Lindsay sighed. "Tell him what's going on. You two need to stop being so awful to each other, and start being honest. But Kim, I'm not going along with this. Daniel might be a total jerk sometimes, but he doesn't deserve to be lied to like that."

There was silence for a while. Kim began patting her stomach, pure angst on her face.

"I can't believe there's a baby inside me right now. It's just so weird."

Lindsay tried to suppress her smile, but couldn't. After a while, she was laughing, and then Kim was laughing too. They started laughing so hard, neither of them could stop. It was pure hysteria taking over, but it was nice to not be crying for a while.

"Stay at my place tonight." Lindsay suggested. "We can hold off telling people, at least for one more night."

Kim accepted enthusiastically, pulling Lindsay into a hug that they stayed in for a while. Her parents didn't even seem to mind when Lindsay brought Kim inside, insisting they had enough dinner for her. Lindsay assumed it was because they could tell the two of them had been crying all afternoon, but luckily enough they didn't question them.

Lindsay pulled out the spare mattress for Kim later that night, realizing with pure guilt that the last person to sleep on it had been Daniel. She realized when she fell asleep that night, that her reasoning for wanting to tell Daniel the truth might have been more selfish than she first thought.


	10. Chapter 10

With everything that had been going on, Sam's audition for _Grease_ had completely slipped Lindsay's mind. She found out that Sunday evening that he had gotten the role of Doody, not exactly the one he wanted, but still one of the male leads. Jean had made a butterscotch cake in celebration, keeping Lindsay busy enough that she didn't get around to calling Kim to see if she had spoken to her mom yet. It was a welcome change to see Sam so happy, given the issues surrounding her lately.

The next morning before class, Lindsay sat with Nick, Daniel and Ken on the patio, breaking them the news about Sam.

"See, I knew he did well!" Nick grinned, giving Lindsay a pat on the shoulder. "We should totally all buy tickets to go see it."

"Oh, yes." Ken retorted. "I would enjoy nothing more than watching a bunch of drama kids sing and dance."

"Well Amy's gonna be in it. Guess you don't have a choice." Lindsay laughed, and Ken put his head in his hands.

"Dear God, no."

"Hey. If I had of auditioned, they would have given me the part for sure." Daniel said, holding his cigarette out in front of him to get everyone's attention. "See, watch."

He threw the cigarette into the air and tried to catch it in his mouth, ultimately failing as it fell to the ground. Nick booed him, as he picked it up from the ground again.

"Aw. C'mon, try again Desario!" Nick laughed, as Daniel attempted the trick again, and failed miserably, this time the end of the cigarette burning his pants.

"Yeah, they would have cast you for sure if you nailed that one." Ken nodded. Lindsay noticed Kim walking over, and from the look on her face, things had not gone well with her mother.

"Yeah, yeah, give me one more shot." Daniel exclaimed. "Drumroll please, sweet Nicholas."

Nick began banging on his textbooks with his hands. Daniel threw the cigarette into the air one last time, before Kim waltzed over and hit it onto the ground herself. Daniel rolled his eyes as she sat herself down next to him, refusing to look at him.

"Good morning to you too, sweetheart." He mumbled sarcastically, stomping the now broken cigarette below his foot. Kim turned to him then, her sheer anger evident. Daniel folded his arms in exasperation.

"What's your problem?"

"Are you kidding me?" Kim exploded. "You told me you were going to pick me up this morning. I had to catch the bus, like a child!"

Lindsay subconsciously found herself sitting down in between Nick and Ken, the three of them exchanging glances as they prepared themselves for world war three.

"Relax Kim, it's a bus. I must have forgot, I'm sorry."

"Oh, you're sorry?" Kim jumped up from her seat. "I should have known you would forget about it, you're just as brain dead as your dad."

There was an audible gasp, and Lindsay wasn't sure who it had come from. It could have been from any of them, given how tense the situation was becoming. Daniel looked both murderous and heart broken at the same time, standing up to level with Kim.

"Do you wanna take that back?"

"What's the big deal?" Kim threw her arms up. "You say a lot worse stuff than that about him."

"He's my dad, not yours." Daniel sounded like he was on the brink of losing it, and Lindsay briefly felt Nick nudge her.

"Well thank god he's not my father." Kim exclaimed. "Why would I want a dad who beats me all the time, anyway? You're lucky he's a zombie."

That was when Nick jumped out of his seat, placing himself in between them.

"Whoa ok, I think we should probably take this down a notch guys. You know, I was listening to The Who this weekend, and you know what-"

"Do you enjoy being a complete bitch?" Daniel ignored everything Nick had said, stepping in front of him to level with Kim again. "Do you like the fact that everybody hates you? Does it make you happy?"

"Everybody doesn't hate me."

"Oh yeah? Think again, blondie. And since you wanna talk about families, you didn't exactly hit the jackpot either, did you? I'd rather my dad be sick than be related to a bunch of white trash welfare leeches!"

Not only was it the biggest fight Lindsay had seen between Kim and Daniel, it was probably the nastiest fight she had seen, period. She turned to Ken, who had the hint of a smile on his face. He had to be the only one of the group who genuinely found confrontation hilarious. She wanted to jump in and defend Kim, but then she also wanted to defend Daniel. Honestly, they were just as bad as each other. So she stayed put, secretly hoping that something Nick said would make them see reason. It didn't seem likely though. They only thing they were both seeing was red.

"WE ARE THROUGH!" Kim was screaming now, to the point where students across the yard were now turning their heads, probably to check if somebody was being murdered. "I mean it Daniel, we are FINISHED. I HATE YOU!"

"Right back at you." Daniel waved in her face, sitting himself back down next to Ken. Then Kim kicked the patio so hard that the noise resonated throughout the yard, before storming off towards the classrooms.

And just like that, everyone acted as though nothing had happened. Daniel was lighting up another cigarette, a gleeful Ken by his side. Nick seemed to reluctantly let it go, shrugging at Lindsay as though there was nothing more he could have done. It was like the sun was finally shining after a wild and dangerous tornado had previously passed through. Lindsay hated it all. She hated that two of the people she cared about most, wouldn't stop fighting. So instead of confronting the issue head on, she picked up her bags and headed to her calculus class early, desperate to distract herself.

That afternoon in the cafeteria, there was a very clear line drawn in the sand. Ken, Nick and Daniel sat in their usual spot by the wall, with Kim on a table a little further away with Karen Scarfolli and Heidi Henderson. Lindsay hesitantly approached the guys, not putting her tray of food down.

"Hey." Daniel moped, stabbing his fork into his food below.

"Hey." Lindsay replied. "Has anybody spoken to Kim yet?"

"Not after this mornings blood bath." Ken replied. Daniel squinted at Lindsay in confusion.

"You heard what she said to me, right?."

"Uh…yeah, I did." Lindsay shrugged. "I also heard what you said to her."

"Are you serious, Lindsay?" Daniel was still repeatedly stabbing his food. Lindsay felt her heart drop, knowing how badly she was upsetting him.

"Look, what she said wasn't ok." Lindsay agreed. "I'm just saying, I didn't see her do anything to you that you didn't do right back to her."

With that, she made her way over to Kim's table. She could feel Daniel's eyes burning a hole in the back of her head, but couldn't bring herself to look back. She sat herself down next to Kim, Karen rolling her eyes as she sat down. Karen had never really grown to enjoy Lindsay's company, and vice versa. Given the fact that she was around, Lindsay knew better than to bring up the pregnancy issue.

"Are you ok?" Lindsay asked Kim, whose scowl had only gotten more obvious since the morning. "Things got pretty intense this morning."

"As long as he doesn't come near me, I'm fine." Kim retorted, shooting Daniel a look as she did. He rolled his eyes from across the room, just before Kim flipped him off. Karen and Heidi were laughing, Lindsay didn't join in. She wasn't finding any of it particularly funny. She cleared her throat.

"Did you talk to your mom?" She spoke in a whisper, barely audible as the two of them checked to make sure Karen and Heidi were pre-occupied.

"Yes. Unfortunately."

"Oh. It didn't go well?"

"It's worse than that. She wants to come with me to the appointment tomorrow."

Lindsay was totally shocked, but tried not to show it. Kim's mom showing any kind of helping hand was shocking, let alone when it came to something like this. She wasn't exactly the most understanding person in the world, not from what Lindsay knew of her.

"Wow. Well, that's a good thing right?"

"No." Kim hissed back. "She's going to want to control everything. This is my baby, I'm going to decide what happens."

They stopped their conversation as Karen and Heidi had begun listening in, changing the subject to that of hating Daniel once again. It seemed to be a subject they could discuss for hours on end, all of them except Lindsay.

As lunch came to an end, she trudged to her English class, hurriedly going through quotes in her head that she had to use for her upcoming essay. As the corridors were clearing, she spotted Daniel up ahead. Feeling bad for what had happened earlier, she started after him.

"Hey stranger." She smiled, receiving nothing but a cool head nod in return. If anything, Daniel quickened his pace, seemingly trying to get away from her. She ignored his sulking, pressing on.

"How is everything? How's your dad today?"

"Great. Everything's great." Daniel replied, not looking down at her once. She felt a slight twang of hurt, given that she couldn't stop thinking about how he had opened up to her in the car. She felt as though she had already ruined any kind of bond they might have previously shared.

"Why are we walking so fast?" Lindsay smirked, to which Daniel didn't even bother responding. Completely fed up at this point, Lindsay threw her arms up in exasperation, refusing to run after him any longer.

"Alright, fine. I give up. If you want to ignore me then I'm not going to bother being there for you."

Daniel stopped then, his fists clenched as he finally turned to look at her. The corridors were nearly empty now, and Lindsay suddenly felt a little vulnerable.

"You took her side. You weren't there for me anyway."

"I'm not taking anybody's side." Lindsay was shaking her head. "Did you ever stop and think that maybe I was just trying to be a good friend to both of you?"

She'd had enough then, turning on her heel and marching straight towards her English class. She heard him call out to her, but didn't look back. The past few weeks had been a confusing, insufferable whirlwind of emotions, and she was beyond being able to deal with it. Already she had fallen behind on the Mathletes, she hadn't done any of her yearbook work, her and Nick had not hung out at all. She had barely even thought about Nick, if she was being honest with herself. Strangely enough, she had an overwhelming urge to find Millie. Sweet, innocent Millie. She would never get herself into the situations her other friends had. Why had they stopped hanging out?

Before Lindsay went to bed that night, she got a phone call from Kim, who said her mom was going to take her to the doctors appointment the next day. They didn't want Lindsay to come along, because Kim's mom was worried about her influence. It was probably the most hypocritical thing Lindsay had ever heard, but she ignored it. If it meant Kim's mom was willing to see reason, then it was best to leave it alone. She was a little hurt though, deciding to distract herself by spending the rest of the night practising lines with Sam. The nicest part was that for a moment, she didn't have to be herself. She was a character, one whom didn't have the melodramatics of her own scattered life.

Lindsay went to bed that night wondering why she hadn't joined the play herself.


	11. Chapter 11

In what must have been the first good news she'd heard in a while, Lindsay came out of her Matheletes meeting the next morning beaming, after being awarded first block. Normally she wouldn't be so smug, but this meant her parents would be proud of her, which therefore meant an easier time at home for everybody. She wandered into the library with Millie by her side, who couldn't stop gushing over the news.

"I always knew you were a Mathelete, Lindsay." Millie nodded profusely. "It's what you were born to do."

Lindsay faked a smile, unable to crush her friends idea of who she was. Deep down, Lindsay knew she wasn't a Mathlete anymore. She was doing it to gain back her parents trust. She and Millie sat by the back of the library, getting their textbooks out.

"I don't know." Lindsay sighed. "The Academic Decathlon is two weeks from now, I still feel pretty rusty. There's a lot going on at the moment, I've just been so distracted."

"Oh, you mean because Kim is pregnant?"

Millie said it so casually, that Lindsay nearly fell off her chair in shock. She literally grasped the edge of the table to steady herself, eyes wide as she turned to her friend.

"You – Millie, who told you that?"

"Who do you think? Kim told me yesterday at lunch."

It was an impossible thought. Here was Lindsay, believing that she was the only Kim trusted enough with that information. To find out that she'd spilled the beans to Millie, of all people – it hurt. She knew it wasn't her secret to keep, but it didn't make it any less painful. Most of all, she felt guilty. To say that Kim and Millie are two very different people, was an understatement. Lindsay welcomed the innocent escape she was granted whenever she saw Millie and now, that person had been dragged into Kim's mess. She wished she was happy that two of her closest friends had learned to get along, but in that moment, she could barely feign it.

"Wow." Lindsay mumbled, and Millie was nodding her head again.

"I know. She wanted some advice on what to do. Can you believe it? Kim needed my help!"

As a matter of fact, Lindsay couldn't believe it. Millie was devoted to her religion; her advice should have been obvious from the get go.

"So what did you tell her?" Lindsay asked. Millie appeared faraway for a moment.

"I told her that it was her choice. She has to do what's best for her."

All of a sudden, Lindsay was in complete awe of the girl sitting in front of her. For someone who had spent her entire life being told that she had to live a certain way, Millie had just proven she had her own thoughts, her own values. And she was a good friend. Probably the best that Lindsay had ever had. She instantly felt horrible that she detested the closeness between Millie and Kim. Lindsay wanted nothing more than to support her friends, and therefore she had to allow that friendship to exist.

"Do you wanna hang out later tonight? We should catch up properly. Right now, I just want to get these stupid equations out of the way." Lindsay asked, to which Millie responded with a resounding yes. The two of them stayed in the library for the rest of their spare periods, nothing on their minds except the looming date of the Academic Decathlon.

Following her catch up with Millie, Lindsay set off to find Nick. She had realized in horror that it had now been over a week that they'd hung out at the park, which meant it had been over a week that he had told her that he was still in love with her. Given Kim's absence, it seemed like a good time to catch him alone. She wasn't sure why she wanted to do that, or what it meant, but she knew she had to talk to him. He had mentioned the day before that he was still practising his basketball in the gym after school, in between the rehearsals for the play. She figured that was her best shot.

The school was virtually empty when she opened the doors to the gym, a loud echo vibrating across the room as they closed behind her.

"Hello?" She called out, seemingly to nobody. "Anybody here?"

"Lindsay?" A voice called back to her. "Over here."

She realized with a slight disappointment that it wasn't Nick calling back to her, but Daniel. He was lying on top of the half built set for the play, it looked like a set of bleachers, or a grandstand. She wandered over to him, stepping over paint buckets and discarded brushes as she did so.

"You know the gym is off limits until _Grease_ is over, right?" She asked him, cautiously climbing up the poorly painted bleachers to reach him. He sat up, taking her hand to help her. She took it hesitantly, sitting down next to him and trying to forget that her fellow students had built this set, and that it probably wasn't sturdy.

"Oh yeah? What are you doing here then?" He asked.

"I thought Nick might be here."

If she didn't know any better, she might have thought he looked disappointed by her response. She couldn't stop thinking about their conversation from the day before, how badly it had gone.

"He is. Ken, too. Our genius friend Nick forgot to bring a basketball to basketball practise."

Lindsay supressed a laugh. Daniel shuffled in his seat a little.

"They'll be back soon."

They sat in uncomfortable silence for a moment, neither of them knowing what to say. She wondered how it were possible that they could keep having these intensely intimate moments, yet still be so uncomfortable when it came to having a normal conversation. She began swinging her legs beneath her, trying not to appear to uneasy.

"Look, I'm sorry." He blurted out suddenly, and Lindsay was taken aback. "I shouldn't have acted the way I did yesterday. Kim already hates me, I really don't want you to be mad at me too."

Lindsay smiled softly, instantly feeling better. "I'm not mad at you, Daniel. I just want you to be ok."

"You've done so much for me." He murmured, and Lindsay shrugged because she didn't know what else to do. She sat on her hands, legs still swinging. From the corner of her eye, she saw him running his hands through his hair.

"What am I gonna do, Linds?" He sounded desperate. "Me and Kim are like some dumb old couple, who aren't happy unless they're fighting. I'm so sick of being like that. But I can't imagine my life without her."

"You love her." Lindsay put simply. Daniel was frowning now, shaking his head.

"No. It's not that. I just – I get her. I get who she is."

"You love her, Daniel."

"Fine. If that's what you wanna call it."

She watched him lean back in his seat, his knuckles tightening as they balled into fists. She briefly skimmed over the fading cuts and grazes that lay on the surface of them, wondering if anybody besides her knew where they had come from. His eyes were closed, head drooping back. The tips of his hair rested on the seat behind him, having grown so much over the past year. She couldn't stop staring at him.

"Sometimes I just wish – never mind." Daniel stopped midway through his sentence, and Lindsay was strangely intrigued.

"You wish what?"

"I don't know. I guess sometimes…I wish things were easier. I wish Kim was more like you."

Every ounce of her being told her to leave. Her legs were telling her to walk away, her mind was screaming run. But unlike the other moments she had shared with him over the past few weeks, she didn't think of Kim. She didn't think of Nick. She thought of herself.

"Daniel…You have to stop saying things like that."

All of a sudden, he placed a finger on her lips.

"Shhh."

Her heart was beating so fast, she didn't register the noise coming from behind the gym door at first.

"Hello? Is somebody in there?"

She heard it that time. It was unmistakably the voice of Mr Rosso, no doubt coming to check why there were students messing around on the sets for the play. Lindsay knew that if they were caught, it meant Nick wouldn't be able to practise in the gym anymore. It also probably meant she would endure a long and torturous lecture from Mr Rosso. She and Daniel instantly dove behind the seats in front of them, crouching down low and not daring to breathe as Mr Rosso came into the gym, his boots echoing across the floor. Daniel's hair was grazing against her forehead as they both held their breath. The footsteps stopped, and she knew he had to be close to the bleachers by now.

"I swear I heard a voice…" Mr Rosso was talking to himself now, which didn't seem unusual.

Lindsay bit her lip from behind their hiding spot, half tempted to jump out and admit her guilt. But then a loud crash came from nearby, and a yell from Mr Rosso.

"Gosh darn it!" She heard him exclaim, and from a crack in the seats, she saw blue paint spilling near his feet. "Man, I bought these shoes last week."

She and Daniel exchanged a grin as they heard the footsteps stomp toward the exit, and finally the unmistakable sound of the gym door slamming shut again.

Only then did either of them breathe a sigh of relief. But neither of them had moved. They were still crouching low, hearts beating in increased synchronisation as they stared at each other. In that moment she completely forgot where she was, or the fact that this was wrong, and that she would almost certainly be regretting all of it in a matter of minutes. His nose brushed against hers, his breath hot against her lips. For a second Lindsay thought that she might actually stop breathing, a thought which was only amplified as he brushed his fingertips against her cheek. She closed her eyes, letting out a quiet sigh that was immediately silenced by Daniel's lips crushing against hers. She had no hesitation in kissing him back, her mind frantic, only thoughts consisting of wanting to be closer to him. Her skin was hot as he moaned quietly into her mouth, revelling in his touch as his hand grasped the back of her head aggressively. She was keenly aware that she hadn't kissed anyone like this before, and she'd never felt this good about it. She felt giddy as his lips moved toward her neck, which was also when she instinctively pulled away.

"Oh my God." She cried out loud, pushing him away and jumping to her feet unsteadily. "What is – how did that happen?"

"I don't know." He murmured, sitting back in his initial seat. She stood in complete shock for a second, before rigidly sitting next to him. It was strange that she couldn't look at him, given what had just happened.

"That was…was-"

"Amazing?" Daniel suggested. She looked at him then, realizing that he was right. It was amazing. It was also the worst thing that had ever happened to her.

"Yeah."

They sat and stared at each other for a moment, Lindsay completely overcome with emotion. She had no idea how to feel, or what to think, but she had to deal with the fact that she had just kissed Daniel. There was no going back from that, not now. Her palms were clammy, and she felt more anxious than she had in a long time, but it was combined with an overwhelming satisfaction.

"I should go." She decided quickly, feeling as though she had finally come to her senses as she stood up, not daring look him in the eye again.

"Okay." Daniel replied, mirroring her as he stood up to face her. Lindsay lost her breath as he closed the space between them. "See you."

Initially she had every intention of leaving, but her legs weren't moving. She exhaled as he stared down at her, and she found her eyes straying back to the lips she had just kissed not a moment ago. Daniel took another step forward, their hips now touching, faces inches away. Lindsay closed her eyes once again, a jolt of electricity shooting through her as Daniel placed his hand on the small of her back.

That was when the side door of the gym swung open. They sprang so far apart that Lindsay tripped over the bleacher behind them, grasping the back of her knee in pain as she turned away from Daniel. He too reacted quickly, leaning on the seat behind him, a little too casually as Ken and Nick came barging back into the gym, laughing loudly.

"I swear to God if you hit me with that goddamn basketball one more time, I will kill you." Ken said, as Nick pretended to throw it at his head. Ken shoved him, and Nick started dribbling the ball towards where Daniel and Lindsay were sitting. He was beaming. Lindsay wanted to cry.

"Hey Lindsay." He grinned, spinning the ball on his finger. "You wanna help me practise? I think I'm getting better."

"Yes, despite the fact that he's mistaken my head for the hoop seven times." Ken interjected.

Lindsay's eyes were wide, her only thoughts filled with that of sheer panic. She was certain it was written all over her face that something was wrong, and she didn't dare look toward Daniel.

"I uh – wow, I'd love to but I actually have to go…somewhere else. I just gotta go somewhere." She stammered, inwardly cursing at her inability to think on her feet. Apparently she couldn't even walk on her feet either, as she clumsily stumbled her way down the bleachers. She smiled awkwardly, marching straight for the exit.

"See ya."

And then she left. She had no idea what to do, or how to feel about anything, except that there was no way she was going to be able to stay silent about this. So she kept good on a promise to a friend that morning, heading straight to Millie's house without a second thought.


End file.
